LATE PINNATED-GROUSE SHOOTING. 87 



abundant in the latter part of the fall now as they 

 were seventeen years ago. Perhaps I might say 

 quite as abundant; but there is not anything 

 like as many young grouse to be found in that 

 neighborhood in August and September as there 

 used to be. As long as the breeding-places re- 

 main it is safe to conclude that there will never 

 be a scarcity of grouse in Illinois and the other 

 prairie States. But though they are nearly as 

 numerous, they are more difficult to kill than for- 

 merly. The young birds find the great corn-fields 

 a place of safe refuge ; and when the packs come in 

 from the great prairies late in the fall, they are 

 wild and swift. To get good sport the observa- 

 tions I have made as to weather, the best hours 

 of the day at the different seasons, and so on, 

 should be carefully heeded. The burning of pieces 

 of prairie late in the spring should be avoided, and 

 it can easily be done. Let the grass be burnt the 

 preceding fall, or, which is perhaps still more desira- 

 ble, early in the spring. In the latter case the grass 

 would have sprung up in places high enough to 

 hold the nests before the hen-birds wanted to form 

 them, besides which there are always many places 

 untouched by the fire, and these spots would be 

 chosen by the grouse to make their nests in. By 



