The Quail 



43 



speed is overestimated even by old hands at the 

 game. A little stepping-off of the ground after 

 the kill will prove this. What looked like forty- 

 five yards will turn out to be about ten yards less, 

 and it holds good of shorter distances. Indeed, 

 a quail actually forty odd yards from the gun 

 would appear to be a very long shot. In cover, 

 the great majority of shots are at a range less 

 than thirty yards. If any one doubt this, let him 

 hang up a bird, then step off thirty yards, and turn 

 and look. What he sees will teach him some- 

 thing about distances in cover. 



The first bird (early in the season) to show 

 above the cover is apt to be the old hen. This is 

 because she is surely the strongest and wisest of 

 the lot and the natural leader. Presumably, too, 

 she it is who gives the signal when to take wing, 

 else it would be hard to account for the almost 

 even start which all usually get. Later in the 

 season she frequently is last away, but that is 

 another matter. She has the noisiest wing, and 

 she is likely to show larger than the others. 

 Pick her out, if you can (trained eyes can do it), 

 and knock her over there and then. Never mind 

 the others, give her both barrels if required, but 

 stop her ! The reason for this is simple enough. 

 A number, perhaps the majority of the bevy, 

 assuredly will follow her to cover and will pitch 

 near where she does. So long as she is with 



