THE DIFFICULTIES OF QUAIL-SHOOTING. 179 



In the United States quail-shooting is regarded as a test of marksman- 

 ship, and in the Eastern and Middle States, where the birds are hunted so 

 incessantly that they have become rare and wild, it certainly requires skill 

 and good shooting to make a bag. Frank Forester gave it as his opin- 

 ion that no bird in this country or any other country was so difficult both 

 to find and to kill with certainty. Bred in the open fields, and feeding 

 early in the morning and late in the evening — between which times they 

 hide quietly, huddled together in little knots which the best of dogs might 

 easily pass without discovering — a man may beat a field all day, and put 

 up only one or two birds, when he is certain that thrice as many are con- 

 cealed there. Often, too, if the sportsman passes close to them, they will 

 sit immovable, trusting in their inconspicuous colors to conceal them until 

 he has gone some distance beyond, when they will spring up and away 

 like so many arrows. It then requires a quick eye and a steady hand 

 to turn and drop a brace. 



When ultimately flushed, they are very fond of flying to some par- 

 ticular covert; and so long as this thicket or fern-brake remains undis- 

 covered, they will resort to it repeatedly. Their concealment is aided 

 by another curious circumstance, which has occasioned much discussion 

 among American sportsmen. 



It is asserted that, when alighting after being flushed, the quail gives 

 out no scent for some little time ; and it has been supposed that this 

 retention of odor is voluntary on the part of the bird, as a conscious 

 method of protection. This is believed in by many persons. Forester 

 admits the fact, but considers that it is only exercised under peculiar cir- 

 cumstances, and commits himself to no explanation. Some shooters be- 

 lieve it is a power belonging to particular bevies, at least in a far greater 

 degree than to others, like the custom of alighting on the branches of 

 trees when frightened ; others restrict the faculty to particular individ- 

 uals rather than bevies ; while the earlier ornithologists do not mention 

 the " retention of sceut," and the later claim (which is probably true) that 

 quails' swift running over the dry leaves of upland woods or meadows 

 allows little time and a poor surface for the transmission of scent, and 

 that when they drop suddenly and remain quiet no effluvium escapes, 

 although the instant they move it begins to be disseminated. It would 

 be better, therefore, having marked down a bevy of quails, since the 

 gunner may be sure they will stay for some time exactly where they have 

 dropped, to wait a few moments before sending the dog on. 



But, having found your quail — which, after all, is not difficult for an 

 experienced sportsman with good dogs — there yet remains the skilful art 



