QUAIL. 145 



ground is frozen, and food becomes scarce in the woods, they re- 

 sort more to the open stubble fields in search of grain, and, when 

 flushed, generally scatter among the high grass, or along some old 

 ditch-bank overgrown with brier bushes, and will lie well to the 

 dogs, and, in many instances, nearly an entire covey may be picked 

 up singly by a good shot, if he has a firm, staunch dog, who is not 

 too eager, but will carefully hunt over the whole ground. When 

 a covey is first flushed, they should be carefully marked when they 

 settle, and the shooter need be in no particular hurry to follow them 

 if they are in good cover, as they have been supposed to have the 

 faculty of withholding their scent, so that the best dogs are very 

 often at fault. Dr. Lewis, in his " American Sportsman," speaks 

 of this supposed power, and publishes a letter of Dr. Samuel 

 Smith, of Baltimore, in which the Doctor says that many noble 

 dogs have been censured for carelessness, when it was manifest 

 that the fault did not lie with them, but that this power was given 

 to the birds by their Creator to preserve them from their ruthless 

 destroyers. 



Even Wilson, the great ornithologist, never gave this matter 

 sufficient study, as the Doctor mentions the fact of being in his 

 company upon one occasion, when a well appointed party of gen- 

 tlemen were shooting " partridges " in a stubble field adjoining a 

 woods, where he and Wilson were gathering specimens. He 

 says : " The stubble field in which this party was shooting, had 

 small patches of briers and low bushes in several places. From 

 one of these was flushed a very large covey of partridges, which, 

 after having been vigorously fired upon, settled nearly in the centre 

 of the field, in a place slightly depressed, where the stubble was 

 unusually high, with rank clover underneath. The sportsmen pur- 

 sued with due caution, giving the proper instructions and ample 

 time to the dogs. Some of the birds were put up and killed, but 

 not near as many as had taken refuge there. After consider- 

 able search the party left the ground. Why so few birds were 

 roused puzzled me exceedingly, and I, in common with every one, 

 censured the dogs. On our return from the woods, where Mr. 

 Wilson had been watching and studying the habits of some small 

 birds, we crossed the stubble directly past the spot where the par- 

 tridges had been hunted by the sportsmen. As we approached it 

 7 



