QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 99 



grouse are not as plentiful there as in the interior 

 counties of the State. 



Some people think the quail a hard bird to 

 shoot, but it is not. It flies swift but straight, 

 and is commonly missed by reason of the shooter 

 being too much in a hurry where it is not brought 

 to bag. Because the flight of the bird when 

 flushed is rapid, men think it necessary to shoot 

 very quick, and pull the trigger without sighting 

 the mark truly. This is an error to which three out 

 of four misses are owing. Let the bird be well 

 sighted along the rib before the trigger is pulled, 

 and, no matter how fast he goes, the shot will 

 overtake and stop him. Quail will not carry off 

 a great many shot. There is no necessity for 

 hurry in shooting, and this will be made manifest 

 to sportsmen if they will sometimes step the 

 ground from where they fired to the dead bird. 

 They will find that in nine cases out of ten it 

 was not as far oflf as they believed it to be when 

 they fired at it. Many of those thought to be 

 as much as forty yards off when the trigger was 

 pulled will be found dead at thirty yards, and 

 some at five-and-twenty. This shows that there 

 is commonly plenty of time to get well on the 

 bird before shooting, instead of blazing away on tho 



