

QUAIL SHOOTING 347 



comparison with the 12-bore. Closer holding is re- 

 quired to shoot them well. Whichever bore is used, 

 it should not be closely choked. There is no need of 

 a choke bore in quail shooting. 



It is an extremely difficult matter to induce the 

 average shooter to use an improved cylinder-bore gun. 

 The recommendation to use an open bore seems to be 

 construed as reflecting on his ability to shoot a close 

 gun, instead of being accepted as sound information 

 concerning the gun fit for that particular kind of game. 

 It requires time to effect a reformation concerning the 

 use of the choke bores in quail shooting. The sports- 

 man should go forth equipped for his sport according 

 to his needs, and not to the whimsicalities of senseless 

 fashion. He should not take a full-choked gun in 

 cover, nor a cylinder-bore gun to shoot ducks. There 

 should be intelligent adjustment of means to ends. In- 

 dustry and skill and woodcraft should not be balked 

 by visionary theories and inappropriate weapons. 



The foregoing is written of the quail as it refers to 

 man's pleasure afield with dog and gun. Naturally it 

 is not fearful of man, and rather prefers to dwell near 

 his haunts, not from an affection for him, but from 

 the fact that near cultivated sections there is always 

 more food to be found than in the uncultivated. The 

 matter of providing food for itself and its young is 

 quite as constant and insistent in the life of the quail 

 as it is in the life of man. 



It often nests in or near the cultivated field. Its 

 cheery, ventriloquial whistle, reiterating its favorite 



