84 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



the snow, there is no scent around that spot, and the dog 

 is not apt to find it. It frequently happens on flushing a 

 covey of Partridges, amounting perhaps to fifteen or 

 twenty birds, that after they have been accurately marked 

 down, and the full covey has been seen to settle at a par- 

 ticular place, on flushing the covey up again, not more 

 than two-thirds of the birds in the covey can be flushed 

 up at the place where they have been seen to settle, and 

 the dogs fail to find them, even after having been closely 

 hunted about the spot. Why all the birds in the full covey 

 cannot be flushed up again is easily accounted for. Do 

 not suppose that the birds all set quietly at the spot where 

 they alight; if you do, you will be often mistaken. Some- 

 times they may, sometimes they may not. Do not sup- 

 pose the birds are withholding the scent from the dog; if 

 you do, you will be disappointed, for the American Par- 

 tridge does not possess that power. The reason why every 

 bird in the covey cannot be flushed is because they are 

 not all there to flush. Some have left. It frequently hap- 

 pens when a covey of Partridges settles, every bird in the 

 covey at the moment of striking the ground will remain 

 quiet within a few feet of the spot where they alight, but 

 this is not always the case, and do not suppose so, for I 

 assure you it often happens that part of the birds in the 

 covey run like race horses, directly their feet strike the 

 ground, and in this way they oftentimes entirely escape 

 pursuit, and when part of the covey does so, on coming up 

 to the place where you have seen the full covey settle, the 

 dogs will generally come to a stand and point those birds 

 that remain around the spot where they alighted, and on 

 getting these birds up, the dog's attention is fixed upon the 

 birds that rise up, and is drawn immediately around the 

 spot where they spring from, and is entirely withdrawn 

 from the trail of that part of the covey that took to their 

 heels and ran as soon as their feet touched the ground, and 

 the stronger scent from the feet of so many birds that have 

 just arisen will transcend that of the few birds that have 

 run off, and will bewilder the dogs, and the few birds that 



