QUAIL-SHOOTING. 10$ 



In some portions of the Southern and Western 

 States, quail are often found in such numbers, that 

 large quantities are easily taken by driving them into 

 traps or nets. In New England, however, they are not 

 so plentiful ; still in some seasons many are caught by 

 the pot-hunters. A friend told me not long since of a 

 very remarkable streak of luck he had on one occa- 

 sion, when hunting these birds. Knowing where a trap 

 was placed of the kind called a figure four, he ap- 

 proached it cautiously, and in doing so, discovered 

 huddled together underneath it a whole bevy of quail. 

 His first impulse was to blaze away at them ; but not 

 wishing to take advantage of their defenceless condi- 

 tion, his ready wit suggested a better plan than killing 

 them outright. Accordingly, he shot away the stand- 

 ard that supported the trap, when down came the cov- 

 er, enclosing the whole lot, — some thirteen good-sized 

 birds. My friend assured me, this was the only time 

 he ever bagged so many quail at one shot, and that, 

 too, without drawing blood or starting a feather. 



In some years the immense numbers of those birds 

 that make their autumnal migration from Europe to 

 Africa are incredible. It is recorded that on one 

 occasion such a quantity of them appeared on the west- 

 ern coast of the kingdom of Naples, that one hun- 

 dred thousand were taken in a single day, and all 

 within the. space of six miles : and on the island of 

 Capri, not far from the city of Naples, so many are 

 annually captured, that they form the principal source 

 of the revenue of the Bishop of that diocese, who in 

 consequence rejoices in the title of the Bishop of Quails, 

 5* 



