208 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
scious of the pleasure of suécessfully following an innocent 
pursuit. 
We remained under the hedge till after two o'clock, eat- 
ing, chatting, and smoking, our irrepressible driver relating, 
in the most facetious manner, several most amusing anec- 
dotes of his previous career; but, as the western sun com- 
menced to elongate its shadows, and the afternoon breeze 
‘to cool the atmosphere, a start was agreed upon, and with 
one accord each rose.and shouldered his gun, intent on do- 
ing good shooting and farther swelling the capacity of our 
already distended game-bags. The fresh brace of dogs 
were uncoupled, and, amidst the discordant notes and 
piteous whining of our discarded morning favorites, we 
started for the beat. 
The ground we were about to hunt exactly resembled in 
appearance and vegetation what we had traversed in the 
morning, and our anticipations of sport, from former expe- 
rience, were up to the boiling- point. However, we must 
have walked quite an hour before either obtained a shot, 
although the slut ran up two birds, for which she got a 
severe rating. In prairie-chicken shooting I have frequent- 
ly observed, and on this occasion it was a corroboration of 
the fact, that during the heat of midday, or immediately 
afterward, pinnated grouse are seldom or never to be found: 
near cultivation; why, I can not say, but they always ap- 
pear in an unaccountable manner to have transferred them- 
selves to the uninterrupted prairie. 
Our lengthened tramp had now brought us to ground 
more irregular, with vegetation more rank, and sparsely 
sprinkled with dwarf osier and willow, the surface being 
damp, and occasionally intersected with rivulets. Our 
spirits were all becoming depressed from our want of suc- 
cess, and even a new beat had been proposed, and was on 
the eve of being accepted, when both dogs stood, not ten 
