158 
: Generally the majority of birds missed are under-shot, 
but it is a safe estimate, to say that two-thirds of those 
missed, on this trip were over-shot. You cannot adjust 
yOjUrself all at once to such a, radical change as your 
bird skimming along the top of the grass instead of rising 
from, ten to twenty fe.et. before lining out. 
The first morning we found one of these too-fat-and- 
lazy-to-f}y-high coveys wa,s memorable for more reasons 
than one. In the first place, it looked as though they 
never would, get through boiling put of the thicket of 
hriei-S on thfe creek tank where the dog finally found 
ihepi, afte,r a long search in heavy cpver, so many there 
\yef e. Thfen the shooting , was so easy as the tremen- 
dous covey streamed up the hillside on to a level stretch 
of open pine woods; at least it looked easy. I carefully 
selected the doomed bird, victim of the right and left, 
and without confusion or undue haste, over-shot them 
both. 
Surprised, but not discouraged, we followed on, and 
found them again upon a grassy flat among the pine 
trees, not in pine thickets, but among large trees suffi- 
ciently open for any man to shoot in, and here we had 
a half hour or more of sport to remember. We made- 
considering all things — a very poor average, but then 
there was no uncertainty about the reason therefor, or, m 
any event, it narrowed down very close, for it was un- 
doubtedly either because the birds did not fly high 
enough, or else because we did not hold low enough. 
After I had shot anywhere from six inches to three feet 
over the first two or three birds, old Roscoe got impa- 
tient, and tried to run the next one down, and was 
crowding it close when he ran over one which flew from 
behind him, which I killed. This accident encouraged 
the dog, and he concluded to try me again. 
The birds lay close in the heavy matted grass, and 
were hard to find, but one by one they were put up by the 
faithful dog, who worked beautifully. Gradually learning 
the peculiar tactics of these birds, I began to get meat, 
and found that I was killing well grown, full feathered 
young quail, and the largest of any I had yet found. I 
finally began to make my usual average, and even better, 
for several quite difficult chances were accepted. One of 
these, a double, was especially good. The . dog, while go- 
ing his usual gait full speed, had struck hot scent and 
frozen in his tracks on a long drawn out point straight 
as a gun barrel from tip to tail. When I came up to 
him, a bird flushed on each side of his head, showing 
that he had started to run between them,; but stopped 
in time. The birds flushed simultaneously, and went away 
at about the same angle, so I took the easier shot, the 
one to the left, first. When I turned to the other it was 
just slipping behind a tree that was . between us, and as 
its flight was only a slight angle, it w^s a long shot when 
it finally emerged to view. Sincerely hoping^ I would not 
strain the little gun, I drew close and carefully aimed 
with the hard shooting left, and at the crack of the gun 
the bird went into the grass. 
Roscoe fairly wagged his tail up to his collar when he 
brought in the second bird and laid it by the first at my 
feet, and we were quite jubilant for the time being, know- 
ing that it was well to rejoice in season, for the next bird 
up might cause a coolness between us. But my luck held, 
ahd the next bird — the most difficult shot of all — was 
killed. It was run over by the dog, who evidently thought 
about everything was up, and was a little careless, and 
flew across some thirty or forty yards in front of us. 
All but invisible as it slid over the top of the grass 
through the trees, I tried again and again to hold on it, 
and finally, when almost out of range, and flying through 
a little thicket of pines, shot where I hoped the bird was,- 
and doubled it up most scientifically. 
The Esquire — ^who was my companion — grew quite en- 
thusiastic. "Tip-top," he cried. "That shot was worth 
a whole day's tramp to see. You certainly weeded him 
right out of the thick timber." Ah ! a fine fellow was the 
Esquire, full of kind words and good deeds, and always 
ready with commendatory congratulations if anything 
like an opportunity ofifered, with never a suggestion of 
the remote poS.sibiIity of anything but skill, science, and 
good judgment contributing to your successful shots; but 
ever ready and willing to expose the untoward and un- 
available accident that caused you to miss. May his tribe 
increase in this vale of tears, and thereby make it a val- 
ley of smiles ; for verily a little charity is a goodly — and 
all too rare— virtue. 
Sportsmen are, as a class, artists and art lovers, and 
own pictures of more or less beauty and worth ; but they 
have their rarest art treasures in memory's gallery, and 
these pictures grow more beautiful as the days go by. 
The soft lines grow clearer, and the harsh lines fainter 
when touched by the master hand of time, and by and 
by a picture that was originally painted hardship, toil, 
and danger, tones down to a masterpiece called a glorious 
outing. As the rugged, broken, rock-studded mountains, 
seamed with dark defiles, and crowned with storm-riven 
trees, grows soft in outline and beautiful in coloring 
when seen from a distance, so do the aches, pains, weari- 
ness, disappointments, and general hardships of an out- 
ing fade out under the gentle touch of time, leaving only 
the high lights of success, enjoyment, and unalloyed 
pleasure. But "revenons a nos moutons," for faithful old 
Roscoe has diligently covered all the ground once more, 
and is down on another bird — which proves to be the last 
of the covey. 
He found this bird in an open spot, and it lay close 
while we moved up on the dog and got the lay of the 
land. I felt sure it would go straight away over the top 
of the grass, like the others had done, and determined 
to exercise great care' and hold low, and I did so. The 
bird flushed from under my very feet, and went straight 
away on an incline of about thirty-seven degrees, the 
fairest shot a man could ask, and with deliberate care I 
fired the first and then the second barrel, remembering 
to hold low, and then stood and watched the bird fly out 
through the trees, across an open field and into a thicket 
of pines nearly a quarter of a mile away. I had finally 
flushed one of the old birds and it did not fly low. Turn- 
ing round I found the Esquire regarding me in puzzled 
amazement. "What was the matter?" he finally gasped. 
"I wouldn't have given a frosted tobacco stalk for that 
bird's life." 
"■VV^ll, it was like this," I said, in an effort to be face- 
tious, "as soon as the bird flushed the fact, that it was an 
old one was apparent, and as we did not want any old 
tough fellows to mix in the lot of young birds we have, 
I shot under it." 
The Esquire was too considerate to say what I ought 
to have heard then, but later in the day he took occasion 
to remark, as one under conviction: "For a man Avho 
does make hard shots, you can miss some of the easiest 
ones I ever saw." The justice and truth of which re- 
ijiark I mentally acknowledged without qualification or 
reservation. 
And now, as it is tpo near the close of this chapter to 
bring in another day's experience, it may be well, at 
this time, to relate some interesting observations in re- 
gard to the present habits of tile Virginia quail, which 
have undergone marked and radical changes in the past 
few years. It is something Hke ten years since I first be- 
came acquainted with this bird, and not only by observa- 
tion, but by reliable testimony of resident sportsmen, I 
know that its habits have undergone a change. If not 
found bunched and lying close, or not run on suddenly 
by the dog, many coveys will run from fifty to two hun- 
dred yards, with the dog and hunter following close on, 
before flushing; whereas they formerly lay close imme- 
diately on the near approach of the dog. Then you may 
flush a covey where you will, and they will fly to the 
woods, or to a heavy thicket, never to the open fields, as 
was formerly the case— at least occasionally. Of the 
many coveys found in all my hunting, never one but 
went straight for timber — large or small — on the first 
flush. And they lie much closer now as compared with 
former times. It was then the usual thing to get up most 
of the coveys a second time, one by one; now this is 
very unusual, and often you will cover the ground care- 
fully with a good dog, and not put up more than two or 
three members of a large covey well marked down. 
It was formerly the exception that birds used the 
woods, now the exception is a covey that uses the open, 
except to roost in. Their manner of flight has changed, 
also, for they now swing sharply to the right or left more 
frequently than formerly, and the covey breaks into 
small squads. These changed conditions militate against 
big bags, even to the expert's gun, and the tyro finds his 
average so low that it is an excursion in higher 
mathematics to determine it, and "quail on toast" con- 
tinues to be a luxury. 
The cause of all this is found in the number of guns 
that are daily afield in this section in the open season. 
The climate is mild, game abundant, and accommodations 
for the non-resident all that anyone could desire, which 
attracts each season a small army of sportsmen from less 
favored points to swell the large number of local gunners 
that follow the brown bird in Virginia. As a dead bird 
acquires no wisdom that it can impart, and as the birds 
are trained and led by their experienced fellows, it stands 
to reason that many of the gunners have done much 
shooting that resulted, to the birds, in valuable training 
along the line of applying the first law of nature. 
It was no uncommon thing for us to hear guns in every 
direction during my hunting, and all too frequently we 
heard the rattle of a repeater, which is a gun that no 
self-respecting sportsman should use on birds, unless he 
limit his load to two cartridges. _ " 
Personally I rejoice in the higher educatit^nU of the 
quail, and hope he will continue to acquire ways that 
lead to safety. I like to go after him, and enjoy bring- 
ing him in, but the more difficult the quest the more de- 
sirable the game. 
That night around the evening fire the natives told me 
of some "snipe" that inhabited the low land down by the 
creek, and after hearing a description of the so-called 
"snipe," I retired to dream of that king of game birds, 
the woodcock. 
Dr. Henry Van Dyke opens a chapter in his delightful 
book, "Littie Rivers," with this original paradox : "A 
great deal of the pleasure of life lies in bringing together 
things which have no connection." Judged by this 
standard, I should have derived a vast amount of pleas- 
ure from the foregoing chapter. 
Lewis Hopkins. 
Notes and Incidents of Travel/ 
Recently a grayhaired man said to the writer, "I was 
born in New York city, and have never been further 
away than Newark, N. J., in that direction, and Stam- 
ford, Conn., in the other ; that is the extent of my 
travels." Another man, a grocer, said : "I was born right 
here, and have never been over twenty miles from home." 
Neither of these men is rich, nor is either of them 
poor in the sense of poverty stricken. But poor they must 
be in a far higher sense or in this age of marvelous 
traveling facilities they could not have made such state- 
ments. Gothe's declaration, "Him whom the gods true 
art would teach, they send out in the mighty world," 
may be applied to all the life of man. And so the un- 
traveled man is generally the untaught man, for, as Stod- 
dard says truly, "Expansion, growth, broader experience, 
and wider charity, these are; the fruits of that real trayei 
which is of the mind." In thft hppe of stimulating the 
desire for travel, and so of helping others to enjoy its 
fruits, these notes and incidents are written. ' , . 
In any journey it is important to travel as mtich as 
possible by daylight, and by conveyance that will afford 
best opportunity for observation. Accordingly we w?nt 
by the magnificent Empire State express, and stopped off 
to see Niagara Falls. In the party was an English lady 
past seventy years old. She had never been over the 
route before, and the beautiful scenery of the Hudson 
and Mohawk Valleys, and the rich historical^ views 
afforded, gave her constant entertainment, while the 
speed and comfort of the train enabled her to say on 
alighting at the falls, "I do not feel at all tired." It;_i3 
doubtful if elsewhere in the whole country so much his- 
toric ground, mid such beautiful surroundings, can be 
covered with so much ease as in going from New York 
to Buffalo. Hamilton, Washington, Arnold, aiid Andre 
live again as one passes the Palisades, Newburgh, and 
West Point, while yeoman honor and patriotism, and In- 
dian valor waken delightful memories and fresh apprecia- 
tion as the train speeds on. The imagination needs not 
the help of Cooper or Irving to fill the scene with the 
people and incidents of the past, and poor indeed must 
be the heart that does hot feel gratitude for that past and 
honest pride in the present. The scenic and historic ele- 
ments are also inseparably blended. 
At the Falls. 
Memories of Gen. Winfield Scott and other military 
heroes are here enlivened, and it is recognized anew that 
one of the great benefits of travel is that it enables one 
to realize the truth of history. The writer felt this when, 
standing on the wall of Windsor Castle some years since, 
he heard the exultant words of a warden who was serv- 
ing as guide : "Do you see yonder field of green hard by 
that wood? Well, that is Runymedel" There the Eng- 
lish people wrested Magna Charta from King John, and 
English history has been more real to me ever since that 
morning at Windsor Castle. It is always so in travel. 
Histoty is vitalized — its truth realized. The impressions 
made by the falls vary with different people as much as 
the views produced by a poor camera in the hands of a 
bungler differ from those made by a well equipped and 
skillful artist. Two incidents will illustrate the extremes. 
Some years dgo one of my friends took a busy manufac- 
turer to see the falls. Knowing the practical, impassive 
character of his man, the host began at minor points of 
interest and gradually worked up to a climax at the foot 
of the American fall. Thus far not a word of apprecia- 
tion had escaped the visitor. The host began to be 
stirred up, and turning to the visitor slapped him on the 
shoulder and asked, "Well, what do you think of jt?" 
Cocking his eye the visitor drawled, "Well, I was think- 
ing what an almighty waste o' power." He would not 
think so to-day. How different the remark of Prof. 
, who, surveying the scene, exclaimed, "If there 
isn't a God there ought to be!" Surely, "The works of 
the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have 
pleasure therein." 
Almost an Accident. 
While we were at the falls a lady in another party 
nearly lost her life by a single misstep. She was at the 
Three Sisters islands, and in going down a path among 
the rocks did not notice a turn and stepped off the plank 
into the rapids. For an instant her dress caught on a 
projecting willow root, but it was long enough for a 
gentleman of her party, as he expressed it, to pull him- 
self together and pull her out. She did not _seem worse 
for the experience, but will not again flirt with Niagara. 
A day's ride over the Michigan Central brings anew 
the joy of travel. Quietly seated in the cars we cross the 
river to Detroit almost without knowing it. The whole 
journey of life is much the same way. We little realize 
how much is done for us, and how dependent we are. 
To the thoughtful mind a well managed railroad is not 
only one of the greatest conveniences, but an illustration 
and an instructor in higher things. Feasting the eye by 
day or resting in a Pullman by night, the careful plans 
and co-operative labor of others speeds you to your 
goal. Such is life. 
Chicago, 
Like most large cities, is "as you like it." Waiting in 
one of its spacious depots, a stranger said, "My, but 
■ — • street is fierce!" A few words further revealed 
that he hadS found what he was looking for — the under 
world. ;The' writer had seen nothing of that world. But 
at Lincoin Park he had an amusing experience. In the 
Academy of Sciehtfe a few words of explanation to some 
ladies regarding some of the collections brought forth in- 
quiries about the comparative size and value of Central 
Park and its collections. The Chicago speaker . seemed 
greatly disappointed when told that the Museum of 
Natural History in Central Park, and the floral and 
zoological displays in the Bronx, greatly surpass those of 
Lincoln Park. But he found solace in the thought that 
"Chicago is ■ still young. Give her time and she will 
measure up to New York." Possibly New York may 
afford an object lesson to many people when in 1909 she 
celebrates the arrival of Hendrick Hudson three hundred 
years ago by a fair greater than the world has ever seen. 
We may be sure that whatever New York does in this 
direction will be as conspicuous as Mr. Potter Palmer's 
residence in Chicago. Strolling down the magnificent 
Lake Shore Drive, and inquiring for that residence, the 
writer was told, "You can't miss it, for it takes the whole 
block." To see this drive is worth a trip to Chicago. The 
city may be "still young," but she has made efforts for 
the preservation of local history, the cultivation of art, 
and the promotion of all that is highest and best in life 
that are in every way creditable. She seems to be draw- 
ing inspiration from her own Shakespeare statue in Lin- 
coln Park. On one side of the base we read : 
"What a piece of work is man. 
. How noble in reason. v j 
How infinite in faculty." ;' 
On the obverse we see^ 
"He;was not for an age, but for all time— our myriad- 
minded Shakespeare." 
Beyond tbe Mississippi 
One feels himself in a new > country. And the 
further south he is the stranger it all is. Min- 
neapolis reminds ' one: of certain * neat and at- 
' tractive New England cities. The detached and tasty 
dwellings, the lawiis; the shade, and the cleanly streets, 
give a welcorile ail' of homelikeness. One does not soon 
■ lose this; - fueling 3s- he journeys west from there. But 
- in southern tfentra?^ Iowa the case is different. The coun- 
try is prosperous, but less tidy. Land has more than 
doubled in' value recently, and with good reason. _ The 
abundant Crops aild the sleek herds of stock give evidence 
of its capacity. Cornfields a mile long and including 
sortie' hundreds of acres are eye-openers to an eastern 
man. Far as the sight can reach the rolling prairip, like 
a great billowy sea of fertility, stretches out into miles ol 
productiveness, and the fat cattle, sheep, horses, and other 
stock, prove it is not delusion. A surprise to the new- 
comer is seen in the "pond" and "cave" on most of the 
farms. The one is a small pool of stagnant rain water 
