396 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
this is not much the case in New England; though, from the 
accidental appearance of a covey in the Berkshire hills, and in 
those of New Hampshire beyond the isothermal lines which 
mark the northern range of these birds, it may be inferred that 
they are very vagrant in their disposition. In Delaware and 
Maryland, however, coveys of Quail often appear, who are dis- 
tinctively called by the sportsmen there ‘‘runners.” On the 
western side of the Chesapeake, an old sportsman assured me 
that covey after covey passed through the country, where food 
and shelter were 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 shel- 
ter and warmth. There they encamp, not huddled together 
promiscuously and unadvisedly, but shoulder to shoulder ina 
circle, with their heads out, so that in the event of a sudden 
surprise they escape rapidly, and in every direction, without 
difficulty. Such roosting-places may very often be found self- 
attesting, from the arrangement and accumulation of hard, 
round feces. Though they rarely take to wing except when 
surprised, they almost invariably do so on leaving 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 breakfast on the edge of the grain- 
field, keeping somewhat together, though each seeks for him- 
self, 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 dislike. Having reached a fal- 
