90 ON THE WING. 



male bird is quite a handsome bird, and is desig- 

 nated as the "whistler," and takes charge of the 

 brood just as the barn-yard cock looks out for his fam- 

 ily. Quail possess considerable cunning, and are 

 hard to bring to bag. When a covey of them are 

 flushed, they spring from the ground with a whir and 

 with tremendous velocity in every direction, like sparks 

 from the blacksmith's hammer, and so suddenly that, 

 unless the sportsman is well nerved up to the work 

 they will get out of sight before he can bring his 

 gun to his shoulder. They seldom fly unless started 

 by fright ; and when on the ground, the male bird leads 

 off his family in the shape of a triangle. They are 

 usually found about the headlands of fields of wheat, 

 rye, corn, or buckwheat in the fall season, particularly 

 in fields of the latter, which is their favorite food. 

 But they are more often flushed in the hedges, by the 

 stone-walls and fences with brush and grass headlands 

 than elsewhere, as they return to these places from 

 their venture into the fields at the first approach of 

 danger. They will not stand for the dog in open field, 

 unless there is some good cover for them. After being 

 flushed, they generally scatter, and are found singly 

 and in pairs, when they will lie to^ the dog, and can be 

 bagged, one or two at a time. 



When the hunter, after making several shots, can- 

 not find his game again, if he have the patience to sit 

 down quietly for half an hour at a short distance from 

 his last shot, he will be pretty sure to hear the male 

 bird calling his family together, and the scattered 

 birds peeping as they answer and work up toward the 



