230 FRANK FORESTER'S FIELD SPORTS. 



This is not, however, by any means the difficulty to which I 

 allude, as an old and steady shot is of course presumed to be 

 proof against such tremors ; and in the open field, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, ought, generally, to kill his double shot 

 out of every bevy that is pointed and flushed within fifteen or 

 twenty paces. 



The case becomes, however, altogether different after the 

 birds have become scattered in coppice, or yet worse, in high 

 saplings, the veiy thickest part of which they most affect, after 

 being once disturbed. 



There is no bird, which I have ever seen that can in the 

 slightest degree compare with the Quail for the rapidity with 

 which it takes wing, and the short space which it requires to get 

 under full headway. It really is wonderful to observe the ex- 

 traordinary speed and command of wing with which this bird 

 will dart through the most intricate and tangled brake, yet I 

 have never seen a single instance of their flying foul of a tree 

 or getting entangled in a thicket, as will sometimes happen to 

 the Ruffed Grouse, and much more frequently to the European 

 Pheasant. 



The Quail flies, as I have said, with extreme rapidity in a di- 

 rect line, rather ascending for the most part, but rarely or 

 never dodging and pitching to and fro like a Snipe or Wood- 

 cock. It has a habit likewise if not pointed, of lying hard until 

 you have passed it, and then flirting up behind your back ; in 

 which case your first intimation of its whereabout is the sharp 

 whirr of its wing, and you must bestir yourself hastily indeed, 

 yet coolly withal, and you must have the eye of instinct, and 

 the nerve of steel, to cut him down handsomely under such cir- 

 cumstances. 



It may be added to this catalogue of difficulties, that in flying 

 frovi you, as the Quail does in a great majority of cases, he 

 presents to the aim of the sportsman a vital centre little larger 

 than a cent piece, with two radii formed by the slender pinions, 

 in which small target four or five shot must be lodged to bring 

 him down with any certainty; so that it will not appear 



