QUAIL SHOOTING. 71 



linensis) may be seen circling about high up in the clouds. 

 The kingfisher (Alcedo Alcyori) screams and throws him- 

 self into the water. Numbers of snipe fly shrieking round 

 the marshes, high up in the air. The heron (Ardea 

 Herodias) and the Indian hen or bittern (Botaurus Len- 

 tiginosus) also choose the evening for their flight, and 

 croak most lustily as they fly. When darkness closes 

 in all these sounds cease, and the owls commence to 

 hoot and laugh. The sportsman then paddles to a dry 

 bank where driftwood lies scattered about in abundance, 

 and, with his upturned canoe at his back and a good 

 fire at his feet, makes himself comfortable for the night. 

 I have seen very comfortable crafts for duck shooting 

 in Canada. They are large flat-bottomed boats called 

 " scows," on which the shooter has a cabin or hut, with 

 stove, sleeping berth, &c. This floating habitation can 

 be poled about the flats from place to place by an 

 attendant, the punt or canoe being either towed astern 

 or hauled up on the deck. 



The quail (Ortijx Virginianus) is only found in the 

 more western districts of the province of Ontario. This 

 is one of the few sorts of game that do not disappear 

 as the forests are cut down ; on the contrary, cultivated 

 land seems to be essential to the quail, whose chief food 

 is found in the buckwheat and Indian corn-fields. Quail 

 would be very plentiful in the settled districts of Canada 

 West if they were protected during the winter and spring ; 

 at these seasons, especially in snow, they are easily 

 poached. Quail shooting over a steady pottering old 

 pointer or setter is capital sport. When a covey is 

 broken the birds often take to the bush or patches of 



