The Haivkevc 0. and O. 81 



a Cleveland and Thurman flag floated to the wind and an- 

 nounced our destination reached. When the horse was tak 

 en care of and the carriage drawrt under the shelter of a 

 friendly shed I went into the house and inquired what the 

 prospects for snipe shooting were. I was told that drtly a 

 few birds had been seen during the whole season as the 

 marshes were so uncommonly dry, in fact so dry as to in no 

 part afford a boring place for these birds. When I commu- 

 nicated this information to P. he expressed his surprise and 

 could not account for such dryness after the numerous heavy 

 rains we had had of late. Never-the-less we determined 

 to go over the ground and as we started out, Don, P's setter, 

 flushed a meadow lark from the grass in the field back 

 of the barn. It flew to a fence near by and perched upon 

 the top rail, cast glances of inquiry over first one shoulder 

 and then the othe# until I was within 15 feet of him, when with a 

 fare-well jerk of his tail he started away. I threw the gun to 

 my shoulder, glanced along the barrel, and pressed the trig- 

 ger, but the only visible effect it had on master lark was to 

 quicken his speed although like bo-peep's sheep he left his 

 tail behind him. The landlord's statement was correct. We 

 tramped over two miles of marsh land and found not a drop 

 of water. A sand hill crane came flying slowly towards us 

 from the north. When first seen he was a long way off and 

 the stilt-like legs stretched out behind made me mistake him 

 for a Gt. Blue Heron, but as he neared us he gradually sank 

 lower, evidently with the intention of lighting in the reeds 

 when a fellow shot at him with a rifle, causing him to rise 

 and pass over us at a great height. Convinced that no. 

 game was to be had here we retraced our steps to the hotel, 

 hitched up and took the first road going north to try our 

 luck with the partrige and woodcock. 



[TO it. Q v; :-;•;•;:;> ] 



