UPLAND SHOOTING. 
229 
mouth of an old cellar, over which a cottage had stood in past 
days, up whirled a bevy of Quail, and away over the very same 
tree-top, but now in the opposite direction. 
On examining the cellar, the inside of which was filled with 
briars and weeds, we found conclusive proof in the numerous 
droppings of the birds, that they had been in the constant habit 
of sitting therein, attracted thither probably, in the first instance, 
by the apples which had fallen into the hollow from the trees 
overhead. 
It was as yet but early in the afternoon, and we were so near 
home that we got fresh dogs, and went to work at them again 
in the bogs, where we originally found them. Some time had 
elapsed, and they had run together into a single knot, rose 
again very wild, and flew directly back to the old hiding-place. 
Thither we followed them at once, flushed them therein, 
proving most unequivocally that they had always lain jperdu in 
the same small spot, and drove them out into the open. 
It was too dark by this time to pursue them any longer; and 
afterward, though we found them constantly in different parts 
of the bog meadow, neither as a body, nor as single birds, did 
they ever betake themselves again to the cellar for refuge. 
Had I not accidentally blundered on that place, when think¬ 
ing of anything rather than of the birds, I might have hunted 
for a month over the ground without finding them. From the 
cavity, and the narrowness of the mouth, a dog might have gone 
within a yard of it without scenting them ; and I have no doubt 
that mine had been more than once within that distance of 
them. 
And here I have done with the difficulty of finding, which by 
he way is not the least step toward killing our bird. 
It is, however, little less difficult to kill when found, than to 
find in the first instance. When first flushed the bevy rise with 
such a whirring and tumultuous noise that they are very apt to 
flutter the nerves of a young sportsman ; and if they rise very 
close to the shooter, I have often seen even tolerably good shots 
discharge both their barrels fruitlessly, from doing so much too 
quickly. 
