LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 79 



this sort that sportsmen will be glad to know 

 and what I state is drawn from experience solely 

 At the same season of the year, if the weather is 

 cloudy and damp, the birds are so wild that 

 you cannot get near them ; and to try is to lose 

 your time and labor for nothing. The Indian 

 Summer is a good time for shooting grouse, and 

 very pleasant for the sportsman. The sun has 

 not the scorching power which you feel in August 

 and the early part of September ; but it is warm, 

 the air soft and still, and not very hazy — rather 

 like thin, white smoke scattered from a great 

 distance. The birds feel comfortable in the 

 dead grass of the prairie or among the sod-corn. 

 They are fat and lazy, and hate to get up until 

 compelled to do so. Any clear, warm day late 

 in ^October or in November is just as good as 

 an Indian Summer day. At this season it is 

 useless to go out before the dew is off the grass; 

 whereas in the earlier part of the shooting the 

 more you get into the thick of it at early morn- 

 ing, the better for you. The prairies are hand- 

 some in the fall of the year, but not so beautiful 

 as in the spring, when the grass is about six 

 inches high and full of wild flowers. The wea- 

 ther is fine, the air pleasant and fragrant. The 



