UPLAND SHOOTING. 
221 
The Quail is not only the most sociable of his tribe in refer¬ 
ence to his fellows, but is by far the most tameable and friendly 
in his disposition as regards the general enemy and universal 
tyrant, man. 
In the winter season, when the ground is so deeply covered 
with snow as to render it impossible for them to obtain their 
customary food, the seeds namely of the various grasses, which 
they love the most, or the grains which lie scattered in the stub¬ 
bles, they come naturally into the vicinity of man’s dwellings; 
and it is by no means an unusual sight to perceive them run¬ 
ning about among the domestic fowls in the barn-yard, and 
flying up, if suddenly disturbed, to perch under the rafters of 
some bam or out-house, seemingly fearless, and confident, in 
such seasons, of protection. 
During the whole of last winter, I had a bevy of thirteen 
birds, lying within three or four hundred yards of the room in 
which I sit writing, under the shelter of a rough, wooded bank, 
whereon I fed them with buckwheat after the heavy snows had 
fallen ; and they became so tame, that they would allow me to 
approach within twenty paces of the spot where they were fed, 
running about and picking up the triangular seeds, perfectly 
unconcerned at my presence. As soon, however, as the spring 
commenced, and the bevy separated themselves into pairs, their 
wild habits returned upon them; and I have seen no more of 
my little friends. 
The Quail pairs in the month of March, or even earlier, if 
the winter has been a mild one, and the ground at that period 
is free from its snowy winter covering; if, on the contrary 
the spring is very late and backward, his courtship is deferred 
until April. 
As soon as he has chosen to himself a mate, the happy pair 
retreat to wide, open, rushy meadows, where the conformation 
of the country affords them such retirement, among the tussocks 
of which they love to bask in the spring sunshine. Where the 
land lies higher, and is broken into knolls and gulleys, you will 
find them at this season on the grassy banks beside some shel- 
