Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1911 — STORY OF A MUD HEN. [ARTICLE]

STORY OF A MUD HEN.

And the Man Who Triad to Shoot or Drown the Bird. -It is a mighty hard thing to down a mud hen." said a Portland official. -Every one knows this homely bird, so clever that it can dodge the flash of a gun. making it very hard to kill if any one ever wanted to kill one. “A friend of mine who was a great hunter, but not acquainted with the mud hen, was out hunting on the Columbia sloughs some years ago when he saw what he thought was some kind of duck floating on the water. He aimed his shotgun and fired, but the bird dived as the gun was discharged. and the shot struck the water where the bird had been a moment before. As the smoke cleared away the hunter saw the bird come to the surface, and be gave it the other barrel, with the same result. “His obstinacy was now aroused, and he determined to kill that bird before he left the place. He shot away every round of ammunition be had, but the bird dodged every one aud still floated in the same spot. In great disgust my friend sat down on the bank and lit his pipe. At the first puff of smoke the bird dived again, and this gave him his Inspiration. “To make a short story, be smoked up all his tobacco to an effort to drown the mud hen. but wlum darkness fell and be started for home the bird was still floating in tbe same old spot.”— Portland Oregonian.