90 FIELD SHOOTING. 



are not much shot at they will get so tame as 

 to come right up to the house and barn. They 

 used to have a very hard time of it in Illinois 

 in severe winters. There was no protection from 

 hawks, by which they were constantly harried and 

 destroyed ; and there being next to no cover, they 

 used to be frozen to death in bevies. When the 

 snow melted, the skeletons and feathers would be 

 found in groups of eight or ten. The hedges 

 now afford very great protection in severe wea- 

 ther, and preserve the lives of thousands which 

 would otherwise certainly perish of cold and 

 starvation in their absence. They break the force 

 of the wind, and furnish snug-lying places for the 

 birds in hard weather. In soft snow quail com- 

 monly manage to do very well in the open. 

 When pursued by hawks at such times, they dart 

 under the snow, and lie safely hid from their 

 voracious enemies. I have seen them do this 

 hundreds of times, and have rejoiced at their 

 escape from the talons of the swift and perse- 

 vering foe. In two or three instances I have 

 walked up and caught the quail which had thus 

 dashed into the yielding snow by hand. The 

 quail is a very interesting bird about breeding- 

 time, and the soft, whistling note of the cock is 



