QUAIL SHOOTING 355 
that the lying of quail, an essential feature for the chase 
in its perfection, is almost as much a result of education, 
as the ‘pointing’ that the intelligent brute who helps us 
kill them has learned. In a primitive and strictly 
natural condition, quail, as a general rule, rather use 
their legs to escape pursuit than squat and attempt 
to hide. That the reverse is the case with the Virginia 
quail, I am perfectly aware, but this proves nothing 
to the contrary, and I am inclined to think its crouch- 
ing, till almost trodden upon, to be an acquired trick. 
This would surely be a poor way of escape from any 
of its natural enemies—any carnivorous bird or mam- 
mal; yet they find it to succeed so well against their 
chief persecutor, that he has had to call in the aid of 
a sharper-sighted, sharper-nosed brute than himself, 
else he might stumble over stubble-fields all day with- 
out seeing a bird, except by accident. I presume that 
Virginia quail in the days of Captain Smith and Poca- 
hontas were very much in the social status of the 
Arizonian to-day; and these certainly trust to their 
legs and wings rather than to the artifice of thrusting 
their heads in tufts of grass and then fancying they 
are safe.” 
Dr. D. G. Elliott, a sportsman of long experience, 
has this to say about the habits of the blue quail when 
pursued : 
“This bird runs with great speed and seems to be 
able to keep it up for a long distance, and flies with 
much reluctance, alighting almost immediately and be- 
ginning to run at once. When compelled to take wing, 
