OUTDOORS 



quail go in bunches of from fifty to two hun- 

 dred birds, and will not lie nearly so well to 

 the dogs as their brown cousins of the east- 

 ern, southern, and middle states do. 



Notwithstanding the great increase of 

 hunters and the introduction of breech-load- 

 ing guns, the quail in the middle states are 

 holding their own in point of numbers. This 

 is mainly owing to the strictness of the game- 

 laws and a general feeling among sportsmen 

 that these birds, above other upland game, 

 must be protected at all hazards. One of the 

 chief pleasures of quail shooting is to have a 

 good dog along that has been well broken to 

 this kind of shooting. A quail-dog or " bird- 

 dog/' as he is often called, takes as much in- 

 terest in the sport as his master does. 



In hunting the average run of country most 

 of the birds will take to the thickest cover 

 they can get to after the bevy has been 

 flushed. They feed in the morning, and after 

 about ten o'clock retire to the thickets. Dis- 

 putes have risen from time immemorial as 

 to whether they feed again regularly, late in 

 the afternoon. Frank Forester says that they 

 do. That they sometimes do I believe to be 



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