82 PRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



WITHHOLDING SCENT. 



|HEEE are many sportsmen who believe that the 

 American Partridge has the power of withholding 

 its scent, on being hotly pursued by its enemies, be- 

 cause the very best of dogs, at times, cannot discover 

 Partridges, even after they have been accurately marked 

 down in places where they have been seen to settle. Very 

 often on flushing a covey of Partridges, they fly off all well 

 together, and after having been accurately marked down, 

 and the full covey amounting perhaps to fifteen or twenty 

 birds, have been seen to settle at a particular place, it fre- 

 quently happens that not more than two-thirds of the 

 birds in the covey can be flushed up again, at the place 

 where they have been seen to settle, and the dogs fail to 

 find and point them, even after having been closely hunted 

 about the spot. This is a great mystery to many sportsmen, 

 why all the birds in the covey cannot be found at the place 

 where they alighted ; and many a good dog has been un- 

 justly lashed for not finding the birds under these circum- 

 stances. Some sportsmen account for it by supposing the 

 birds are still at the spot where they alighted, in a state of 

 quietude, withholding their scent from the dog, which pre- 

 vents the dog from finding them. Other sportsmen ac- 

 count for it by supposing the birds are still at the place 

 where they alighted, but being frightened, terror checks 

 the secretions which are usually emitted by the bird, and 

 which renders the dog unable to scent them. I believe nei- 

 ther; my observation and experience have taught me to look 

 upon the cause, and account for it, in an entirely different 

 way. I unhesitatingly say. that I do not believe the Ameri- 

 can Partridge possesses the power of retaining its scent from 

 the dog, nor do I believe excessive terror checks the efflu- 



