10G NATUEAL HISTOET SKETCHES. 



soon spoil if mashed about in a pocket or game-bag. A 

 little pepper in their mouths and vents freshens them. 

 It is not the man that shoots the most game out here 

 who makes the most by it, but he that takes the best 

 care of it. 



The Common Quail is a pretty gamy little bird, very 

 much like the European quail in size, habits, and ap- 

 pearance ; but I fancied it was prettier. The call-note, 

 when on the ground, much resembles the native name 

 of the bird, " too-weep," often and loudly repeated, 

 especially when feeding: the cry when they rise is a 

 sharp chirp. Although a small object, the quail is 

 not a difficult bird to kill, on account of its straight 

 flight. 



We used to kill a large variety of the common quail, 

 which we called the Stubble Quail. It was rarer than 

 the common bird, larger and thicker ; the breast of the 

 male, instead of being black, was plain-coloured, and 

 there was also a slight difference in the beaks. 



Quail-shooting is not a bad game where a man has 

 regular customers. I used to consider from fifteen to 

 twenty couple a good day's work (I once killed thirty- 

 seven couple), and I rarely bagged more than fifteen out 

 of twenty, taking in misses and lost birds. A man soon 

 empties his flask in quail-shooting, and ammunition is no 

 slight item in the expenditure of the small-game shooter 

 out here : I reckoned every couple of birds cost me 3d. 

 to kill, and they averaged Is. per couple throughout the 

 year. Although always found in " bevies," quail gene- 



