QUAIL-SHOOTING. 809 



SO much esteemed. Thej generally weigh from eighteen to 

 twenty-one ounces. 



QUAIL-SHOOTING. 



The quail is a bird of passage, but they also breed sparingly 

 in Britain. They arrive in this country about the second 

 week in May, and appear more partial to champaign coun- 

 tries than to those which are enclosed. The males arrive 

 before the females, and advantage is taken of this circum- 

 stance by the bird-catchers in France, who annually decoy 

 hundreds of dozens of males into their nets by imitating the 

 call-note of the female, and they are sold to the poulterers. 

 They keep them alive for some time, feeding them on hemp- 

 seed, on which they grow very fat ; to this, probably, may be 

 attributed the darker shade of their flesh, compared with 

 those killed by the gun. They are sent to England in vast 

 quantities, and sold to the poulterers. It has been ascer- 

 tained by Mr. Yarrell, that the large number of three thou- 

 sand have been purchased by the London dealers in game in 

 one season. 



Quail-shooting affords excellent sport when plentiful. 

 They grow very fat, and what in a great measure contributes 

 to this is their remaining stiU during the greatest part of the 

 heat of the day ; they then conceal themselves in the tallest 

 grass, lying on their side with their legs extended, in the 

 same spot for hours together, and when forced upon the wing 

 they seldom fly far, and generally in a straight line ; and 

 they are so indolent, that a dog must absolutely come upon 

 them before they are flushed. 



Although the common quail is a migratory species, yet 

 specimens are not uncommon in Great Britain and Ireland, 

 after the great body of them have changed their abode, at 

 that fixed period when they usually take their departure. 



5 L 



