BOB WHITE. 



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|hinls huddled closely together in the position in which 

 thi' impenetrable drift had imprisoned them. 



This species is credited by some with the power of 



ivohtiitarily withholdinfj the natural scent of the body 



loti alighting, after having been flushed. Certainly in- 



j stances are numerous, when the best dogs have been 



hrouglit to a place where the birds were seen to settle, 



aiul although the ground was thoroughly covered in 



every direction, nothing was found. And yet after a little 



while, if that same ground was beaten over, the dogs 



\v(nild come to a point at every few moments and the 



birds would flush, usually singly. Again it is not 



iimisual that when a bevy is followed immediately, when 



mu' ground on which they settled was favorable, the birds 



have been flushed without difficulty. If the scent was 



vohuitarily withheld it is natural to suppose that there 



Iv.ould be no exception to the rule, and that it would 



never be permitted to indicate the bird's presence after 



it had been flushed and thoroughly alarr-.ed. But the 



linstances wiien this is not the case arc very numerous, 



laiul have been experienced by every sportsman, and they 



Iwould seem to prove that the bird has not the power 



Ito withhold this evidence of its presence at will. When 



la bevy alights after having been flushed there are no 



Itell-tale footsteps to give notice to the keen nostrils of 



Ithe dog that any quail is near. Each bird, as it alights, 



[remains motionless in a compact mass, every feather 



pressing close to the body, and occupying the smallest 



[space possible. Unless it is almost stepped upon by the 



Idog its presence would not likely be detected, for the 



bird would not move unless trodden on, and naturally 



Ithcre would be little or no scent from its body to betray 



jits position. But the instant a movement was made then 



Ithe tell-tale effluvia would escape, and the bird's locality 



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