342 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
long grass of swamp or upland, or the skirts of woods, 
afford the shelter and protection that they need or 
seek. No doubt the birds become wilder in the North 
than in the South, for, first of all, the inclement 
weather of the North tends to make them so, and there 
is a much more relentless pursuit of them by the 
shooter. The birds being scarce, after the bevy is scat- 
tered the search continues while there is a hope of 
finding a single remaining one; and if success with 
them has been unsatisfactory, the shooter may return 
later to catch them, when they are whistling to each 
other in the attempt to come together as a bevy. 
In the broad plantations of Mississippi, Alabama, 
Tennessee, Arkansas, etc., a dog of reasonably wide 
range is necessary, much wider than would be either 
desirable or useful in New England, or similar sec- 
tions in respect to cover; for there is much of the 
country in the South, open and cover, which every- 
where affords a bountiful food supply, and, therefore, 
the birds are to be found in the most unexpected places. 
The cover and cultivated fields of the South do not 
aid the hunter’s judgment as to quail haunts to the 
degree that they do in New England shooting. In 
the latter place there are comparatively few areas in 
which the birds can get both food and cover together, 
or even food alone, and the sportsman soon learns to 
distinguish the favorable places. In the South, in cover 
and open, there is food in abundance everywhere. 
There are vast fields, some of which are overgrown 
with sedge grass, others with weeds, with fields of 
