December, 1922 
quail were not the wary birds the sports- 
men of today encounters. This can be 
j verified by retreating to some isolated 
I wilderness where mankind seldom trav- 
els and you’ll find them quite unlike the 
, alert, active brother whose domain hap- 
pens to be in closer association with 
I civilization and easy access of the auto, 
f On the other hand, the semi-domesti- 
cated quail that struggle within the con- 
fines of the country towns and rear their 
, broods, become even more unsuspecting 
than their widerness kin. 
In 1908 the writer had occasion to 
I spend the fall months in the Greenhorn 
' Mountains in Kern County, California, 
and it w'as a common thing to flush a 
. flock of three hundred or more. They 
would seem to literally pour out of the 
thick, brushy ravines, only to drop into 
shelter after a short spurt of wing. The 
limit bag at that time was fifty, today 
it is fifteen. Today it is real sport to 
get fifteen. At that time and place it 
was a matter of shooting with the fry- 
ing-pan the incentive. But the birds 
close to home are the ones accessible to 
our week-end holiday and these are the 
variety of quail we can well term 
“educated.” 
They disappear with equal alacrity to 
the report of a gun or at the approach of 
a prowling Bobcat; and quite the same 
sense of sagacity for instance could be 
applied to the Bob-Whites in the settled 
districts of Maryland, comparable to 
those of a Texas wilderness. 
They have become wonderfully 
adapted to the changes brought about by 
the increasing population, and in spite 
of the modern firearms, long open 
seasons, big bag limits and great tracts 
of land, now cleared, which once formed 
their habitat, they 
are holding their 
numbers remark- 
ably well; due 
chiefly to their 
marvelous speed 
of wing and alert- 
ness in avoiding 
enemies, and in no 
small measure to 
the more drastic 
game laws of re- 
cent years and the 
better observance 
of the same by the 
great and ever- 
increasing hunting 
populace. 
T he Valley 
quail, as the 
name implies, is 
not a n habitual 
dweller of the 
mountains, though 
in summer in such 
localities where 
the foothills come 
in abrupt contact with the Sierras it may 
be found far above its regular haunts 
and has been recorded as high as eight 
thousand feet altitude. 
Brushy ravines and rough little 
gulches of scattering tree growth, hills 
of sage brush and the higher and rough- 
er ranges ol Chapparal, verdant valleys 
and the foliage along streams of the 
bottom lands, all make up the habitat of 
the California and Valley quail. 
In the more arid sections they may 
be found well out in the sage brush ad- 
jacent to some little brook. In such 
places it is a delight, to hunt them as 
Mr. Sheldon is a Sportsman-natu- 
ralist — a man who combines a deep 
love for the open places and the 
red-blooded sport to be found there 
with a keen desire to find out more 
about the habits of the game he 
shoots. In writing this article he 
has exercised both sides of his tem- 
perament. 
there is nothing to obstruct the view and 
it offers more deliberate shooting. But 
in direct opposition to this a covey 
found in the wooded area of rough hilly 
country taxes the hunter to the utmost 
and compels the snap shooting style of 
hunting, which usually results in more 
bodily exertion than success. The most 
desirable quail ground is the open, un- 
dulating hills where the gulches or 
ravines are luxuriant of brush and plant 
life, with just enough timber to keep 
the birds froip flying too far. 
Several birds may be taken from a 
flock before it has disintegrated and 
scattered to cover. If there is timber or 
other heavy shelter near they will seek 
it, while if all barren they often fly to 
far and uncertain places. When they 
have reached shelter, the hunter should 
leave the locality and look for another 
covey. The scattered flock will soon 
after commence to call and an hour or 
two will find them together, when more 
birds may be secured. 
With all conditions in favor of the 
hunter it is often possible to take a limit 
bag within an hour or two from one 
535 
flock of birds in the character of country 
above mentioned. 
To hunt quail with a well-broken dog 
is not the more efficient method, but is 
combined with such rare pleasure and 
satisfaction that memories of a day thus 
spent are never apt to be dimmed with 
time. While a dog is by no means essen- 
tial in hunting the California bird there 
are many reasons in favor of the dog. 
First, from a conservative standpoint, it 
is rarely a “dead bird” is lost, and 
wounded birds are usually reflushed or 
picked up, which obviously procures the 
desired number of birds with less de- 
stroyed or lost. 
Then, too, the birds hold better, do 
not fly out en masse as is often the case 
when the dog is absent. Again, when 
the shooter has made a “double” or per- 
haps a “triple” (according to his type of 
gun) and in fact may drop a half dozen 
birds within a radius of shotgun range, 
he remembers about where they dropped 
and the trained dog does the rest. 
Otherwise a certain percentage of the 
birds are never recovered. The charm 
of watching an intelligent, trained and 
experienced dog work — body aquiver 
with interest and excitement, all his keen 
senses attune to the hunt — his statu- 
esque figure “at stand” is in itself equal 
to all the other features that make up 
the sport of quail shooting. 
Quail are to be found in various types 
of country, and to know w'hcre to find 
them it is necessary to learn something 
of their habits. In the early morning, 
for instance, they can usually be found 
on the ridges enjoying the first sunshine, 
later working down to the lowlands to 
drink. This is not a set rule, however, 
as their movements depend largely on 
the character of 
country, food and 
water. In the mid- 
dle of the day they 
seek the denser 
growths, well up 
from the ravines, 
where they dust 
and sun themselves 
and scratch about 
in leisurely fash- 
ion. When they 
have been hunted 
to some extent 
they will often 
seek the most iso- 
lated brush patch- 
es, often near the 
top of a gulch and 
remain in hiding 
until late in the 
day before moving 
out to feed. While 
the California bird 
is not addicted to 
running as habit- 
ually as some of 
the other Western 
forms, he can, however, he classed as a 
sprinter when necessity demands. Long 
distances are traversed on the ground 
and it is not often they will take wing 
unless frightened. They are beautiful 
little creatures when seen running to- 
{Continucd on page 560) 
Male and female valley quail, California quail and Gambel quail. The larger size 
of some of the specimens is due to over-stuffing 
