398 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



rate of a hundred and fiftj' yards in a minute, so tliat one must 

 trot to go as fast. Tlie young do tlie same over the smooth, 

 drj' carpet of pine-needles. They pass along so rapidly, and 

 the ground is so free from grass and undergrowtli, tliat no 

 scent is left behind. Two or three birds are in the pines, sit- 

 ting close to the trunks or along the boughs. Two others have 

 dropped into .a bunch of briars, and the rest into bushes near 

 by. Our friend has now passed through the intervening copse ; 

 lie has reached the swamp, and has hunted over it thoroughly 

 but without success. His fine-haired pointer has refused to 

 go among the briars. Had our friend waited half an hour 

 until the scent of the birds had become stronger through grad- 

 ual dissemination, his dog would have found them easily. 

 Tired and disappointed, he sits down to consider, when sud- 

 deuh' two of the Quail whirr almost at his feet. Meanwhile, 

 the young birds have run half a mile, leaving no scent, and 

 those who were in the trees have silently flown on to join their 

 companions. B^'e and b3e you ma}' be surprised to hear them 

 calliug each other together near the old field, and tipparently 

 on the very ground which our friend has searched so carefully'. 

 At last the}' will be back again at their roostiug-place safe and 

 sound, even if pursued until after dark. Now the lad also re- 

 turns home, and explains his ill luck by an extraordinary the- 

 ory, read of in books, and verified by his own experience, that 

 our Quail have a wonderful power of retaining their scent. 

 The only sound argument to prove this statement is that our 

 game-birds, when very young, by a thoughtful provision of 

 nature, emit little or no scent.^ 



Though the Quail are very hard}', and can probably endure 

 very severe cold, they often perish in the snow. In winter, 

 they lie on the ground as usual, always allowing the snow to 



» Amon<? the very numerous writers on this subject, none, po fnr as we have 

 observcil, have claimed to possess tliat ecientlfic and exact knowlcdg-e of the 

 Quail's jihysiological structure and functions, without which it is idle to arfriie tlie 

 question. When game-birds drop suddenly to the gmund and remain motionless, 

 tlie dofT docs not )ierceive them. Quail most frequently alight in this way, but, as 

 800U as they baj^iu to move, the eflluvia Oacapes and is disseminated. 



