QUAIL SHOOTING 337 
grouse—for of the one it may be said, without quali- 
fication, that it is a bird of the prairie; of the other, 
that it is a bird of the woods. Such sayings of them 
will be found to be true wherever those birds may be 
found. 
The quail thrives wherever it can obtain a food sup- 
ply, in open or in cover. It readily adjusts its habits 
to the dominating circumstances of food and cover, 
whether it be in prairie or woods, or a country com- 
prising both open and cover. 
In the country north of the Ohio and east of the 
Mississippi River, it frequents the open fields largely, 
preferring such as have a good food supply, with 
hedges or old walls and fences fringed with brush, or 
nearby woods and thickets to which it can run or 
fly for shelter or safety. In such sections it rarely goes 
far into the woods, preferring to skirt around the outer 
edges of them, merely for protection and shelter. The 
hawks are its deadly enemies, and it needs ever to be 
alert in avoiding them. 
The quail oftenest roosts in the open fields, where 
there is at least a few inches growth of grass, stubble 
or weeds for concealment, and it uses the same place 
many times if not constantly disturbed. This is indi- 
cated by the grass or other vegetation being beaten 
down in the roost, a small circular opening, about 
two feet in diameter, and the pile of droppings in the 
center of it. 
The birds huddle on the ground, bunched up close 
in a circular form, with their heads outside; thus all 
