AMERICAN PARTRIDGES. 415 



abundant, crossing the peninsula on foot, but often perishing 

 by the wholesale in attempting to pass the wider inlets, and 

 he added in proof of this that he had taken as many as forty 

 at a time from the middle of the river near his house. 



To return to their habits here: At night, for at least 

 many days in succession, the Quail select the same spot to 

 sleep in, more usually in low ground, where the long grass 

 affords shelter and warmth. There they encamp, not huddled 

 together promiscuously and unadvisedly, but shoulder to 

 shoulder in a circle, with their heads out, so that in the event 

 of a sudden surprise they escape rapidly, and in every direc- 

 tion, without difficulty. Such roosting-places may very often 

 be found self -attesting, from the arrangement and accumula- 

 tion of hard, round fasces. Though they rarely take to wing 

 except when surprised, they almost invariably do so on leav- 

 ing their roost in the morning, which they do at an early 

 hour. Let us suppose ourselves to be accompanying Quail 

 on a day's ramble. They first fly from the swamp, perhaps 

 four or five hundred yards, to some copse adjoining a stubble- 

 field. After a little toilet and a few sips of dew, they break- 

 fast on the edge of the grain-field, keeping somewhat together, 

 though each seeks for himself, making an occasional demand 

 for halves upon the lucky finder of some luscious morsel. 

 Half an hour after sunrise, the birds have passed through the 

 long field more rapidly than usual, since the dew is not heavy, 

 owing to a breeze in the night. Otherwise, they might have 

 skirted the field to avoid getting wet, which they much dis- 

 like. Having reached a fallow field, the old cock suddenly 

 squats ; then, with wonderful rapidity and steps nearly eigh- 

 teen inches long, he runs across this land, the others following. 

 He passes through a dry oak wood, halts a moment for the 

 stragglers, takes breath, and then flies silently from the crest 

 of the hill across the little valley below. These hurried 

 movements are due to a lad with a gun and an old dog. The 

 latter of these new-comers stops suddenly as if paralyzed, and 

 then steps along slowly and stealthily to that part of the 

 stubble-field where the birds left it, stopping from time to 

 time for his master to come up. Puzzled, he now returns 



