104 NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



than the grass. "Where they winter nobody seemed to 

 know, but I fancy they go back into the large plains in 

 the interior, from whence they appeared to come to us ; 

 for if they had come over the sea, we should have always 

 found them on the coast first, and many would have been 

 picked up on the beach in a state of exhaustion, like 

 Woodcocks at home. I observed when they first came, a 

 few birds would arrive, as the pioneers, perhaps a week 

 before the great flock ; and one thing which surprised 

 me was, that you might beat the same ground day after 

 clay, and, however many you shot, the number of the 

 birds did not appear to diminish. When they first arrive, 

 they are generally to be found in the long grass on the 

 edges of the swamps, on the grassy plains, and in heather ; 

 and these are the general places to beat for the common 

 quail throughout the season ; but as the corn springs up, 

 they draw much into the cultivation paddocks, where 

 they breed in security ; and the quail is the only game 

 bird here that is likely to increase with population. In 

 the hot summer they are always to be found on moist 

 ground and in the neighbourhood of water-holes, espe- 

 cially at mid-day. They feed at morning and night, and 

 the best time of the day for quail-shooting is from three 

 in the afternoon till sunset. In the early morning, when 

 the dew is on the grass, they won't lie, and in the middle 

 of the day they lie too close ; and as there is then no 

 scent, the dogs are almost sure to pass over them ; more- 

 over, the dogs can't hunt here in the heat of the day. 

 It is next to impossible to rise quail without a dog ; 



