356 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



it rises with the usual whir-r-r, and proceeds on a 

 slightly curved line, rather straight ahead, and if, on 

 alighting, it should stop for a moment, it is almost at 

 once under the cover of some cactus or other low bush, 

 which affords a place of concealment ; and from which 

 it can watch its pursuer, before starting to run again. 



"A dog is practically useless for hunting the 

 scaled partridge, for if he is well broken and attempts 

 to point a covey, the birds will run several hundred 

 yards, while he is standing, and then will add several 

 hundred more while he is trailing them, and the poor 

 animal becomes bewildered and disgusted and is apt 

 to run also. I know nothing so trying to the patience 

 of a sportsman as the tactics of this species, unless it 

 be the similar habits of other crested quail. As a rule, 

 this species was not very much hunted in the localities 

 I met with it, and it always seemed to me rather 

 singular that they should be so wary, for that is an 

 attribute that wild creatures usually acquire, after 

 having made the acquaintance of man and learned 

 that his presence always brought wounds and death, 

 and that safety to themselves was only to be obtained 

 by leaving his vicinity as soon as possible. But these 

 birds seem instinctively to have ascertained this fact 

 before they ever saw a human being, and decamp at 

 once whenever a man appears." 



