356 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
it rises with the usual whir-r-r, and proceeds on a 
slightly curved line, rather straight ahead, and if, on 
alighting, it should stop for a moment, it is almost at 
once under the cover of some cactus or other low bush, 
which affords a place of concealment; and from which 
it can watch its pursuer, before starting to run again. 
“A dog is practically useless for hunting the 
scaled partridge, for if he is well broken and attempts 
to point a covey, the birds will run several hundred 
yards, while he is standing, and then will add several 
hundred more while he is trailing them, and the poor 
animal becomes bewildered and disgusted and is apt 
to run also. I know nothing so trying to the patience 
of a sportsman as the tactics of this species, unless it 
be the similar habits of other crested quail. Asa rule, 
this species was not very much hunted in the localities 
I met with it, and it always seemed to me rather 
singular that they should be so wary, for that is an 
attribute that wild creatures usually acquire, after 
having made the acquaintance of man and learned 
that his presence always brought wounds and death, 
and that safety to themselves was only to be obtained 
by leaving his vicinity as soon as possible. But these 
birds seem instinctively to have ascertained this fact 
before they ever saw a human being, and decamp at 
once whenever a man appears.” 
