398 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



rate of a hundred and fifty yards in a minute, so that one must 

 trot to go as fast. The young do the same over the smooth, 

 dr} T carpet of pine-needles. They pass along so rapidly, and 

 the ground is so free from grass and undergrowth, that no 

 scent is left behind. Two or three birds are in the pines, sit- 

 ting close to the trunks or along the boughs. Two others have 

 dropped into a bunch of briars, and the rest into bushes near 

 by. Our friend has now passed through the intervening copse ; 

 he has reached the swamp, and has hunted over it thoroughly 

 but without success. His fine-haired pointer has refused to 

 go among the briars. Had our friend waited half an hour 

 until the scent of the birds had become stronger through grad- 

 ual dissemination, his dog would have found them easily. 

 Tired and disappointed, he sits down to consider, when sud- 

 denly two of the Quail whirr almost at his feet. Meanwhile, 

 the young birds have run half a mile, leaving no scent, and 

 those who were in the trees have silently flown on to join their 

 companions. Bye and b} r e } T OU may be surprised to hear them 

 calling each other together near the old field, and apparently 

 on the very ground which our friend has searched so carefully. 

 At last they will be back again at their roosting-place safe and 

 sound, even if pursued until after dark. Now the lad also re- 

 turns home, and explains his ill luck by an extraordinary the- 

 ory, read of in books, and verified by his own experience, that 

 our Quail have a wonderful power of retaining their scent. 

 The only sound argument to prove this statement is that our 

 game-birds, when very young, by a thoughtful provision of 

 nature, emit little or no scent. 3 



Though the Quail are very hardy, and can probably endure 

 very severe cold, they often perish in the snow. In winter, 

 they lie on the ground as usual, always allowing the snow to 



3 Among the very numerous writers on this subject, none, so far as we have 

 observed, have claimed to possess that scientific and exact knowledge of the 

 Quail's physiological structure and functions, without which it is idle to argue the 

 question. When game-birds drop suddenly to the ground and remain motionless, 

 the dog does not perceive them. Quail most frequently alight in this way, but, as 

 Boon as they begin to move, the effluvia escapes and is disseminated. 



