338 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
face toward the outer circumference of the circle, which 
cannot be approached without coming to the view of 
some bird. This arrangement is said to prove ad- 
mirable for the safety of the whole. In theory it 
seems a wise arrangement; in practice it works very 
badly, since they often fly reluctantly when they have 
comfortably adjusted themselves for a night’s rest. 
The pointer or setter may also draw very close to them 
then, generally doing it with greater precision than 
when they are more scattered about, the evening hours 
being more favorable for strong scent and accurate 
pursuit. Were not dogs trained to such stanchness 
as is required in shooting, they could easily, at such 
juncture, spring in and capture, as indeed some par- 
tially trained dogs will do under the circumstances, 
In the States of greatest bird abundance, as in Ar- 
kansas, Mississippi, etc., and where there are many 
ragweed fields, very destructive shooting often takes 
place near the twilight hours, when the birds have set- 
tled themselves for their slumbers. When the dog 
points the bevy the shooter places himself at the proper 
distance from the roost to obtain the best scatter of 
the shot. Then the huddled birds, being flushed, swarm 
up loosely together for three or four feet, when the 
shooter takes a snap shot at them, and often does 
nearly as much damage as if he had potted them on 
the ground. It is hardly necessary to add that this 
practice is disapproved by all true sportsmen. 
In Minnesota, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and other 
prairie States, the quail readily adapts itself to the 
