39 2 Quail and Grouse of the Pacific Coast 



and other fashionable toggery, he seems perfectly 

 aware of it, and will give you the fullest opportu- 

 nity to get your money's worth of bliss out of 

 them, especially if the day is hot. He seems to 

 know, too, that you boast a gun that will clear the 

 brush and bag the game at the same discharge, 

 and he appears to be curious how it will work. 

 No other bird tempts Providence so much, and 

 no other is better able to do it. He lingers just 

 enough to lead you on, and runs just enough to 

 induce the tenderfoot to tear up with a charge of 

 shot the exact spot he has just vacated. He flies 

 just far enough in the open to make the ordinary 

 shot believe he can get him, and then dodges 

 around some dense brush just quickly enough 

 to show him that he cannot. And he deceives 

 the best brush shot with the idea that he is going 

 to lie close enough for a good snapshot in the 

 thickest part of the brush, when he is scudding 

 out of sight up-hill as fast as his legs can carry 

 him. He flies no faster than Bob-white, and 

 twists no more, yet he is a far harder bird to bag 

 on account of his rising farther off, and from 

 unexpected places. From this and the extra 

 toughness of all these quail arises the belief that 

 they are faster fliers and harder to hit than Bob- 

 white, which is not true. If Bob rose the same 

 and without being pointed by a dog, he would be 

 just as hard, except that the duller color of these 



