MASS. (Middlesex Co.) [Middlesex County, Massachusetts] Quail shooting. Brachyotus Cassini [Brachyotus Cassinii] attack, 
Thanksgiving a live duck decoy
1876. Nyctea scandiaca in confinement
Thursday
Nov. 30 [November 30, 1876] Clear and rather cold. Got off with Eustis at
8.30 A.M. and drove up to Shade St.
where I got my horse put up in a farm.
Hunted all day for game but up to 
3 P.M. started nothing excepting a pair
of very wild grouse. About that time
Eustis blundered upon a bevy of about 15
quail which had collected into a ring 
for the night as evinced by the marks
of their bodies in the snow. We chased
them about for some time but found 
them so exceeding wild that we got but
few good shots. I killed 2 of them (E.
fired at one & very probably did the killing)
and a grouse. Launce was very wild 
in his ranging but pointed nearly 
every bird as usual. Saw one Colaptes
and lots of jays. Mr Joyce told me the
other day that while lying in his booth
at night watching for black ducks a
Brachyotus Cassini [Brachyotus Cassinii] make a stoop for
his live duck decoy when he shot it.
He says he has had this happen
several times. While down in Dock sq. Boston [Dock Square Boston].
I went up to see three live N. nivea [Nyctea nivea] which
were kept in a loft. They sat on the floor 
in rather a crouching attitude. Walked
with comparative ease & rapidity taking
long, sliding steps: Uttered a sort of
twittering noise when approached & also
but more rarely a loud hough almost
like the snort of a startled horse.
The [they] flew about the room noiselessly 
with [delete]hanging[/delete] legs hanging down.
Specimens of this bird have nearly stopped
coming into town.
[margin]Grouse 1 - quail 2[/margin]