QUAIL SHOOTING 355 



that the lying of quail, an essential feature for the chase 

 in its perfection, is almost as much a result of education, 

 as the 'pointing' that the intelligent brute who helps us 

 kill them has learned. In a primitive and strictly 

 natural condition, quail, as a general rule, rather use 

 their legs to escape pursuit than squat and attempt 

 to hide. That the reverse is the case with the Virginia 

 quail, I am perfectly aware, but this proves nothing 

 to the contrary, and I am inclined to think its crouch- 

 ing, till almost trodden upon, to be an acquired trick. 

 This would surely be a poor way of escape from any 

 of its natural enemies any carnivorous bird or mam- 

 mal; yet they find it to succeed so well against their 

 chief persecutor, that he has had to call in the aid of 

 a sharper-sighted, sharper-nosed brute than himself, 

 else he might stumble over stubble-fields all day with- 

 out seeing a bird, except by accident. I presume that 

 Virginia quail in the days of Captain Smith and Poca- 

 hontas were very much in the social status of the 

 Arizonian to-day; and these certainly trust to their 

 legs and wings rather than to the artifice of thrusting 

 their heads in tufts of grass and then fancying they 

 are safe." 



Dr. D. G. Elliott, a sportsman of long experience, 

 has this to say about the habits of the blue quail when 

 pursued : 



"This bird runs with great speed and seems to be 

 able to keep it up for a long distance, and flies with 

 much reluctance, alighting almost immediately and be- 

 ginning to run at once. When compelled to take wing, 



