fields, but none were either seen or heard in many another 
nearby haunt from which they have seldom absented them¬ 
selves in former years. During the entire open season 
(October 12 - November 12) I hunted them persistently, at 
every favorable opportunity but with such indifferent 
success that only two were bright to bag — both in the 
Berry Pasture, where a smadl patch of sweet corn had been 
grown and left unh8.:^^ested, last year as well as this, 
for the express purpose of attracting Pheasants. They came 
to it only in the e3.rly morning and late afternoon. Any 
that happened to be found there at such |iours could 
usually be closely approached without much difficulty by 
stealing up behind a neighboring brush pile and thence 
making a quick dash in among the tall and crowded corn 
stalks. Birds thus surprised while filling their crops 
with ripening maize might rise at once on vfing, perhaps from 
virell-nigh underfoot, mounting almost straight upward to a 
height of fifteen or twenty feet before adopting level 
flight — thereby offering me conspicuous targets which it 
seemed impossible to miss but at which the 20 gauge gun was, 
I am bound to confess, discharged more than once in vain. 
Nor could it always be brought to shoulder before the big 
birds had passed almost beyond its range, for they flew 
quite as swiftly as Ruffed Grouse although rarely seeming 
to do so. Some of those encountered among the corn were 
too cool-headed 'and resourceful to risk exposing themselves 
