344 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
Many of the plantations of Louisiana are drained 
by open ditches running parallel at reasonably equal 
distances from each other, though the distances may 
vary greatly one field with another and may be 50 
or 200 yards, more or less, apart, while other ditches 
of like arrangement intersect them at right angles; 
thus a plantation may be cut with more or less regu- 
larity into small squares surrounded by ditches. Some 
plantations may be irregularly ditched, while others 
with a far greater watershed may not be ditched at 
all. The heavy rains round out the banks of the ditches 
and their bottoms, and a fringe of weeds and brush, 
thick and thin in places, strings along the banks and 
makes a fairly good shelter for the quail. On these 
land squares are grown cotton, or corn, or nothing, 
as the case may be, though, if not cultivated, there is 
always certain to be a good crop of weeds, affording 
plenty of quail food. When flushed in such places the 
quail may fly a few yards to the first ditch, or may 
cross over two or three ditches before finding a place 
to its liking. 
As mentioned elsewhere, the state of the weather 
may greatly affect the quail’s habits. The bevy having 
gone to the ditches for safety, the dog, to be useful, 
must have great superiority in roading if he pursues 
satisfactorily. When in the ditch the birds run swiftly 
along the bottom. It is almost impossible, at first, to 
induce the green dog to go into the ditch, or, being in, 
it is impossible to make him remain there, though it 
may not be over a foot deep, and dry. The green dog 
