The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1896-01-16

III a>oes riot Tass rssah Kanh Among Field
Sports.


K Vx 1>pes riot Te&~ nigh 1Fanm Among Field
On September /. when the season
x6mlnonly opens, according To existing
lAsv@ most OF the chickens are but two.
thirds grown or less They are just
4 sysisangIng their first feathers for the
pisiruage OF maturity. Their wings
efe relatively weak, and, unless they
hAvs previously been frightened, they
akn usually SO indisposed To leave
nsyv6r that II is often necessary to al.
most literally kick them from the
erase or stnbble. Once In the air an
indifferent marlxsmah may cut them
down with toierable certainty. Two
guns may commonly secure every bird
n of covey.
Under such circumstances chicken.
shooting hardly takes high rank in the
list NJ field sports. Bat q month or
two later. the mouiting season over
hen Is flgnratively as well as literally
bird OF another feather. 1t has be-
gome more wary, though still lying
REASONABLY well; its flight is swift and
atronR: it has learned the value OF
scqub-oalS patches and cornfields as
cover 20 be sought in an emergency; in
short, It has now become, in its full
November prime, game bird worthy
the prowess of any sportsman.
No one who has not the ardor OF the
true sportsman thinks of going in pur'
suit OF this mature prairie hen. But
unfortunately, as have already init.
mated, veritable host of hunters
stand ready to assail the September
weddings, The inevitable result is
that the ranks of this splendid fowl are
being thinned at rate that arouses
the Indignation Of every right-minded
person familiar with the facts Eff
teen years ago in a favorable region
ofthe Mississippi valley and westward,
there was no reasonable limit to the
4 bag an average sportsman with q good
dog might make any day in the
fall when he chose to go out
on the prairies. The present season,
on revisiting this region ] found
skilled sportsmen hun ting all day long
over favorable fields and returning
with Eve or six chickens at most, sone-
sirnes with none at all. Thus is the
hardest and most prolific of our game
birds threatened with EXTINCTION on
the broad praries of the west, as it has
already been completely exterminated
throughout the east. And this despite
the fnct that the prairie hen thrives
best in cultivated country, If prop
srlv protected, tending constantly to
extend its range in the wake ofciviliza.
ton.
( The wanton destruction of our game
r. no new theme, hut it Is one on which
q writer may well afford to brave the
charge of triteness. Regarding most
species, however, regrets are vain, even
If natural Large quadrupeds cannot
ordinarily exist In the environmento Of
civilization.
But the case OF the prairie hen Is
different. Wherever there are meadows
and oat fields of reasonable extent it
can thrive, and will thrive If given a
fair living chance. Wheat is its favor
lite cereal, il Is true, but if need be it
soon learrs to do without it, as.
indeed, Its ancestors did for untold
4 centuries. Denied stubble or any kind,
IL proves its adaptability by taking to
the corn and to the bean fields, and
even to thickets of nnderbrush. And
Ia any and all situations it lives mainly
ON grasshoppers and other insects dur
ing Che early part OF the season, thus
racompensing the farmer many times
over for any gleanings it may make in
the grain fields later on.--Harper's
Weekly.
The Convert.
An elderly gentleman of benign APP