56 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



the air. This is the only thing that has come under 

 our personal observation that looked like the Missis- 

 sippi case." 



The quail is a bird of the open, building its nest in the 

 fields, in little patches of brush, or in fence corners, but 

 after the broods are grown, commonly taking refuge 

 when alarmed in woods or tangled brushy patches. 

 Usually the winter home of the bevy is in some 

 swamp or woodland adjacent to fields where grain 

 or weed seeds or other food is accessible, and a 

 few years ago their wanderings were limited to a 

 comparatively small area. The birds went to their 

 feeding grounds in the morning, walking from them 

 to some place where they sat in the sun and dusted 

 for two or three hours; toward night they fed again; 

 and then often walked in among high grass, where they 

 roosted. Of late years, since they have been so con- 

 stantly pursued, their habits appear to have undergone 

 some change, and they are believed often to roost in 

 the woods or swamps, but in old times it was common to 

 find these roosting places out among the stubbles or in 

 the open fields. Years ago, a gunner familiar with a 

 certain section of country, who had traveled over it 

 enough to learn where the different bevies of quail lived, 

 could almost certainly start each one of them and have 

 a couple of shots before they took refuge in swamp or 

 woods. In those days, however, a man who had such 

 knowledge if he went shooting frequently usually 

 contented himself with three or four birds a day. If his 



