Getting Christmas Dinner 
By CHR. G. 
W T was the week before Christmas and the 
^ snow had been coming down steadily night 
and day for three days. Softly and gently 
it had covered everything with its white mantle, 
: and in my mind I could exactly see how the 
• woods looked: the ground covered with about 
four feet of snow and every pine a white pyra¬ 
mid; in short, just perfect weather for “top” 
hunting the capercailzie. There was conscience, 
however, which said, “You hav’n’t got time to 
go,” but when mother happened to mention 
something about a “centerpiece” for the Christ¬ 
mas table, I figured out that a day or so could 
be spared anyway, and when I awoke the fourth 
| day and saw it had stopped snowing during the 
night, I just hustled together some grub, loaded 
up some cartridges, and 2 P. M. found me on 
the train with the rifle, skis and sleeping bag, 
bound for a little station in an out-of-the-way 
place, some three hours’ ride distant. 
On arriving at my destination I strapped on 
the skis, shouldered my pack and started on my 
' two hours’ walk along a logging road. It was 
up hill all the way and daylight fast waning, so 
I had to hustle, as my intention was to stop in 
a little lumber camp. I did not know whether 
; it was occupied or not, but devotedly hoped it 
; was, as these camps take about half a cord of 
wood a night to keep somewhat comfortable. 
Within a mile of the station a fresh moose 
track crossed the road. It must have been a 
i big one, as it was about the size of a fairly big 
frying-pan, and a little further up two more had 
gone across. 
It was dark when I was nearing my destina¬ 
tion, and my pack had seemingly been getting 
heavier all the time, so when I smelt smoke and 
a little afterward saw sparks flying like fire flies 
among the dark pines, I felt much relieved, as 
there was the promise of comfortable quarters. 
Walking around to the door I unstrapped my 
skis and entered. Inside was an old man and a 
young fellow, both looking rather surprised to 
see a stranger at that time of day. When they 
heard my errand they invited me to stay as 
long as I pleased. 
The camp was about ten by twelve feet, 
roughly built of logs, the walls being about five 
feet high and around them were fixed benches 
of split logs to sit and lie on, while in the middle 
of the floor was built a fireplace. There was 
) no chimney, but in the roof was an opening 
about three by four feet for the smoke to escape 
I’ through, and the floor was old mother earth. 
The smoke was rather bothersome every time 
j( fresh wood was laid on the fire, and I had a 
fit of crying several times during the evening, 
|i but it did not seem to bother the others a bit. 
Ip During the night the old man was up and re¬ 
plenished the fire several times, and once I 
! thought I heard the wind blowing rather hard. 
I slept like a brick, though, in my warm sleep¬ 
ing bag until next morning, when the old man 
woke me just before dawn. 
After a little to eat I packed together some 
lunch, and taking along a coffee kettle started 
SUCCESS. 
off just as day was breaking. The weather was 
bitterly cold and clear, and the wind during the 
night had swept the woods clear of snow, mak¬ 
ing it very difficult to see the birds, besides the 
clear weather making them very wild. I knew 
if there was to be any game I would have to 
do my prettiest. 
I hunted the whole forenoon in the likeliest 
places, along the edges of the big marshes and 
the ridges, but not a bird was seen until about 
2 o’clock, when, as I was walking along the top 
of a hill, my eyes caught sight of one sitting in 
the middle of a spruce some 250 yards away. 
He had seen me, however, and left for a safer 
locality. 
I continued along the hill to where it ran 
down into a marsh. Here along the edge among 
the trees I found where a flock of eight or ten 
had lain in the snow during the night. Now 
they ought not to be very far off, and as I looked 
carefully around I saw something suspicious in 
the extreme top of a big spruce on a ridge the 
other side of the marsh. I made a big detour 
around, and when I came near enough made out 
• eight birds, all sitting in the extreme tops and 
with outstretched necks, showing they were not 
easy to be caught napping. 
The woods were very open, and I had not 
much hope of getting within range. My white 
clothes helped me though, and by crawling like 
a snake I managed to get within about 150 yards 
of one. He was sitting in the top of a giant 
spruce with back toward me, but turning his 
head in my direction and seeming suspicious, I 
hurriedly moved the sight to what I thought was 
the right distance, sat down in the snow, resting 
both elbows on the knees, and pulled the trigger. 
At the crack he came tumbling down, making 
a deep hole in the snow, but when I came to 
pick him up he seemed as lively as ever. He 
could use his wings, but in trying to fly would 
tumble over backward. On examining him I 
found the bullet had just grazed the skull over 
the eyes without breaking it. 
Putting him in the bag I went along the hill 
in the direction the flock had taken and found 
them within a short distance. This time I was 
unfortunate, however. As I was stalking one 
bird I ran right on to another, and off they went. 
As it was now rather late in the afternoon and 
not a bite of food had I had since morning, a 
little fire was made, some coffee boiled, and 
within half an hour “at them” again. 
I found the birds as I expected on the other 
side of the marsh, about where the first bird 
had been seen. A big detour had to be made 
again, and marking down a bird close to a dead 
tree, started in stalking, sometimes up to my 
hips in the snow and then again on all fours. 
When I thought I was near enough I peeked out 
from the sheltering branches of a big spruce, 
but although the dead tree was in sight, not a 
bird could be seen. I did not like the situation, 
as in order to get further I had to expose my¬ 
self to get across some open ground about five 
or six yards. I had only taken a couple of steps 
when something dark in the middle of a tree 
arrested my attention. Was it a bird or just 
a bunch of twigs? “Well,” thought I, “here 
goes, anyway. Take aim right in the center of 
the dark splotch and let her go.” 
There was a commotion right away, and down 
tumbled a bird. It certainly was my lucky day, 
and as I picked up the big bird I felt satisfied 
with the day’s work; besides a fellow does not 
feel like carrying many birds at a weight of 
around ten pounds each. 
The sun had now set and a cutting north 
wind made me hustle to keep warm. It was 
