140 



UPLAND SHOOTING. 



part of the country where the name " quail" was in gen- 

 eral use, and they so called the bird in their writings, and 

 fortified their position by arguments more or less falla- 

 'cious; and here the power of the press to disseminate 

 misinformation as well as information became painfully 

 apparent. Moreover, the West and Northwest being 

 settled from the North, the term "quail" followed civ- 

 ilization in those directions, until now, I believe, fully 



four-fifths of those who 

 shoot on the wing call 

 this bird a quail. For 

 all that, the use of this 

 name is as improper as 

 it is for us in the South 

 to call the black bass a 

 trout; still, however, it 

 smacks of affectation to 

 call the bird by any other 

 title than the misnomer 

 in popular use. 



While in this quan- 

 dary, I turned to an 

 article originally pub- 

 lished in the" Century 

 Magazine, and now form- 

 ing one of not only the most entertaining, but also most 

 instructive, chapters in " Sports with Rod and Gun." It 

 is from the pen of Alfred M. Mayer. In this article the 

 writer says: ' ' In the North and East he is called quail, in 

 the South and West he is partridge, while everywhere he 

 is known as Bob White. Let us then call him as he calls 

 himself, and we will not be berated for our ignorance of 

 natural history." I had before been favorably impressed 

 with the above, but it seemed to me rather like using a 

 pretty pet name. Just at that moment a white-cheeked 



