AUTUMN SHOOTING. 325 
and clap their wings over their backs. When they are 
seen to do this, they are down—and no mistake ! 
It is worthy of remark, that for some time after quail 
have dropped and squatted, they yield no scent whatever, 
and cannot be pointed even by the most excellent dogs on 
the best scenting days. It is a question, though it matters 
not to the sportsman, the fact being once established, 
whether this retention of the scent is voluntary on the 
part of the bird, or a peculiarity of which it is uncon- 
scious. I am, however, well satisfied that the former ia 
the case; for at such times as it gives out no scent, the 
quail will not take wing at all, however narrowly the 
thicket or covert, of whatever sort it may chance to be, is 
beaten by dogs and men. 
This peculiarity is especially to be noted; for to follow 
birds immediately to the new hiding-place, is worse than 
time thrown away. They will not be found until at the 
end of half an hour or upward, when they shall have begun 
to run, and if at all scattered, to call; and while the 
sportsman is fruitlessly toiling after these, such other birds 
as are feeding in the vicinity, having got through their 
morning meal, will have betaken themselves to the small 
isolated spots in which they bask and lay up during the 
heat of the day, and in which, unless stumbled on by acci- 
dent, the best dogs will fail to find them. 
The proper method, therefore, by which to have great 
sport in the afternoon, is to persist in beating the stubbles, 
feeding grounds and wood-edges, so long as the birds are 
on the ramble and the feed, and to take such shots as one 
may get, in the mean time, until the scattered birds shall 
