The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-09-15

The close observer who has a good
memory and a ready wit is always
armed with the expedient which ex-
actly meets the exigency. Will had
learned by observation that when a
hawk strikes into the midst of covey
of quails or a flock of grouse, the birds
viii instantly scatter, each individual
looking out for a hiding place, and
dashing precipitately into the first
cover that offers. In the present case,
most of the grouse were birds not yet
fuily grown, being pair and its late
spring or early summer. brood, and
thlS we knew was much in our favor;
Tor young birds are less sophisticated
than old ones, and naturally depend
more upon hiding than flying when
sudden danger arrives.
! The hawk, with its toothsome quar-
| ry, was soon away out of sight and
strange silence and stiffness fell upon
the wood, moment ago so noisy and
| full of ttwinkling wings. You could
nave heard pin drop Not even a
| cedar spray stirred Every one of the
grouse was IN a quickly chosen hiding
place. If had been passing that way
ana unaware OF what had just hap
pened, you would never have dreamed
tnat all around you within easy bow
shot were fine fat birds, some of them
In plain view, if you but knew where
to look for them.
Well, 1T CHANGED that Will and did
know very we'll just where to look for
the two frightened grouse. We knew
their nature and habits and just what
they might be expected ITO do under
circumstances like the present. But
this very knowledge made us feel how
slender was the probability of success
for us. A single misstep would end
the whole affair in a great whir Of
wings. Almost infinite caution and
address were demanded. We stood
still for some moments holding a hur-
ried consultation under breath, and
agreed ito keep close together Nhen
we began moving slowly about, all
eyes looking above, below, around.
Each HAD an arrow set in his bow,
and was using the faculty of discrim-
ination with intensest effort of vision.
1t requires this ito see a grouse under
such conditions
What is the secret of the trick no
hunter or naturalist has yet been
able to explain. But one of these birds
can sit on bough in plain sight,
without even so much as twig be-
tween it and your eyes, and yet you
do not see it, although looking
straight at it. I remember THAT we
walked around in that cedar grove,
gazing fruitlessly into every tuft,
wisp and spray. We knew very we'll
that as many as a dozen birds were
there, but not feather could we see.
In such a case, when you do chance ito
discover a bird it is a revelation SO
unexpected and sudden that you are
apt to be quite surprised. Imagine my
start and recoil, as if a panther or a
rattlesnake had leaped up under my
nose, when on a cedar bough not ten
feet away I saw a young cock grouse
,fA,a liz
space. [ am sure that / had looked
along the identical bough from end Ito
end, time and again before the appar-
ttion Of the bird, which seemed all at
once to materialiZe out of nothingneSs
1t would have been next to impossl-
BILE for one to miss when so close to
my game. I bowled it over with a
blunt arrow. Wills vision was I'M
locked a little later, and now we could
see grouse almost everywhere. Most
of them we're perched low in the trees,
but here and there one had squatted on
a log None of them took to wing I'M
til we had shot a good many times.
let go five arrows, one after the other.
at bird which lay close in between
two roots at the foot of a tree before [
killed it. The blunt shaftheadS raped.
hammer-like on the hard gnarls of
wood close to the crouching form, but
it did not SO much as move its head
or stir a wing feather. VIII was shoot
ing as fast as he could draw the loose,
and when at last one of the old birds
leaped into the air and went noisily
away, the remainder of the flock fol-
lowed with a roar, and our sport was
at an end. We picked UP five dead
birds as our quarry, but Will insisted
that one more ought to be in his bag.
It was his second bird and he had
knocked it off log at the edge of a.
thicket. We ranged the spot over and
over, and finally. just as we were out
of all patience, there 1T lay, fiat on its
back, in the open, with nothing at all
to hide it! So we had in all six fine
young grouse, memorable bag, and
went back to our tent two very happy
archersi