342 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



long grass of swamp or upland, or the skirts of woods, 

 afford the shelter and protection that they need or 

 seek. No doubt the birds become wilder in the North 

 than in the South, for, first of all, the inclement 

 weather of the North tends to make them so, and there 

 is a much more relentless pursuit of them by the 

 shooter. The birds being scarce, after the bevy is scat- 

 tered the search continues while there is a hope of 

 finding a single remaining one; and if success with 

 them has been unsatisfactory, the shooter may return 

 later to catch them, when they are whistling to each 

 other in the attempt to come together as a bevy. 



In the broad plantations of Mississippi, Alabama, 

 Tennessee, Arkansas, etc., a dog of reasonably wide 

 range is necessary, much wider than would be either 

 desirable or useful in New England, or similar sec- 

 tions in respect to cover; for there is much of the 

 country in the South, open and cover, which every- 

 where affords a bountiful food supply, and, therefore, 

 the birds are to be found in the most unexpected places. 

 The cover and cultivated fields of the South do not 

 aid the hunter's judgment as to quail haunts to the 

 degree that they do in New England shooting. In 

 the latter place there are comparatively few areas in 

 which the birds can get both food and cover together, 

 or even food alone, and the sportsman soon learns to 

 distinguish the favorable places. In the South, in cover 

 and open, there is food in abundance everywhere. 

 There are vast fields, some of which are overgrown 

 with sedge grass, others with weeds, with fields of 



