92 WiNG-SHOOTlNG. 



Whenever a bird halts the instant that it is shot at, or the 

 legs of the bird hang down, or if the feathers fly, it should 

 be accurately marked down, and immediately followed up, 

 and searched for. A wounded quail should always be fol- 

 lowed up at once, and worked for, for a reasonable length 

 of time, till found. 



Not unfrequently, on being flushed, a bevy drops into 

 long grass where the ground is flooded in the spring and 

 autumn, and here the grass grows in tufts about a foot in 

 diameter ; the cover is so peculiarly grown, that the birds 

 drop into a hiding-place at once, and do not move after 

 alighting, so that the dog is unable to wind them, except 

 by passing directly over them. Here is an instance where 

 quail are believed to withhold their scent. Where met 

 with under similar conditions, you may go over the ground 

 carefully without flushing a bird ; but by kicking each 

 tussock, every bird will arise singly, and it will be your 

 fault if a good account is not rendered, as they present 

 the easiest shots possible ; you must take time by allow- 

 ing the birds to go sufficiently far to have the shot spread, 

 or you may overshoot, and be rewarded by a succession of 

 clean misses, or have your birds badly mangled ; then by 

 keeping cool, you do not mutilate your birds, and instead 

 of being a ragged mass of flesh and feathers, you have 



