BOB WHITE. 



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lunwounded ones seek the nearest places of safety. Fresh 



Icartridges inserted, at the snap of the barrels returning 



[to their place the dogs spring up, and, taking the dead 



Ibirds carefully in their mouths, bring them and place 



Ithem in the hands of their master. What lover of 



the sports of the field but has witnessed some such 



Iscene as I have so vainly tried to describe — a scene 



Istaniped upon the memory to be recalled again and again 



lin the days when failing strength and numbered years 



Ihavc necessitated that the old gun, the treasured com- 



jpanion of many a happy day, be laid aside forever, and 



the sports of the field be enjoyed only in the recollections 



)f the past! 



In many localities where Quail were formerly abun- 

 dant they have become very scarce or C4uite extinct. 

 various causes have brought about this undesirable state 

 jf things, among which are the depredations committed 

 Iby their natural enemies of the air and forest ; but man is 

 Ithe chief culprit, and by shooting the birds in and out of 

 jseason, murdering the half-grown young hardly able to 

 ly before him, and by catching whole bevies in snares and 

 traps of all descriptions, he has been most successful in 

 exterminating the race from many a favorable locality. 

 F'ortunately, by introducing into such a barren spot birds 

 from other places where they are still abundant, the evil 

 nay be remedied, for Quail soon accustom themselves 

 to new surroundings and multiply rapidly; but as the 

 )opulation increases in the land, districts from which 

 lew stock can be drawn will become fewer in num- 

 )er, and those places, where Bob White through man's 

 fapacity and foolishness has been exterminated, will 

 remain tenantless of the bravest game bird in the 

 land. 

 As an article of food the Quail is a very delicate and 



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