QUAIL SHOOTING 333 
it cannot be doubted that self-control on the part of 
gunners would result in the re-establishing of these 
birds in goodly numbers through many sections of 
their former range. In a certain Connecticut town, 
where the quail had been practically exterminated, the 
gunners, for several years, have had an understand- 
ing that no one of them should disturb these birds. 
The result of this protection has been that in the spring 
of 1910 quail might be heard calling from every side 
in certain sections of this town. It is said by the 
gunners there that there will be great quail shooting 
this fall. This may mean that the gunners will again 
kill off all the quail, and that again for six or seven 
years they will have no shooting. 
In the West are the beautiful plumed and helmeted 
quails of the mountain, of the valley and of the desert 
—and those other birds of curious plumage and soft, 
thick crest, Mearns’ quail and the scaled quail, also 
known, respectively, as “fool quail” and ‘“‘cotton-head.” 
Except for Mearns’ quail, these western forms do 
not, we are usually told, offer good shooting. They run 
like deer before the dogs, rise at long distances, make 
long flights, and as soon as they reach the ground 
start running again. Mearns’ quail is said to be 
an exception to this rule, and lies close and hard. So 
difficult are valley quail to shoot over points, that 
many gunners of southern California do not attempt 
to use a dog to find them, while others use dogs only 
for retrieving, or to flush the birds while running. 
Few people in the United States have had greater 
