56 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
the air. This is the only thing that has come under 
our personal observation that looked like the Missis- 
sippi case.”’ 
The quail is a bird of the open, building its nest in the 
fields, in little patches of brush, or in fence corners, but 
after the broods are grown, commonly taking refuge 
when alarmed in woods or tangled brushy patches. 
Usually the winter home of the bevy is in some 
swamp or woodland adjacent to fields where grain 
or weed seeds or other food is accessible, and a 
few years ago their wanderings were limited to a 
comparatively small area. The birds went to their 
feeding grounds in the morning, walking from them 
to some place where they sat in the sun and dusted 
for two or three hours; toward night they fed again; 
and then often walked in among high grass, where they 
roosted. Of late years, since they have been so con- 
stantly pursued, their habits appear to have undergone 
some change, and they are believed often to roost in 
the woods or swamps, but in old times it was common to 
find these roosting places out among the stubbles or in 
the open fields. Years ago, a gunner familiar with a 
certain section of country, who had traveled over it 
enough to learn where the different bevies of quail lived, 
could almost certainly start each one of them and have 
a couple of shots before they took refuge in swamp or 
woods. In those days, however, a man who had such 
knowledge—if he went shooting frequently—usually 
contented himself with three or four birds a day. If his 
