UPLAND SHOOTING. 
269 
£iian we go after this bevy ?” 
“ Not yet, I had rather wait till they begin to run, we may 
very likely miss them otherwise.” 
On they went, therefore, and perfectly right were they to go 
on ; for Perrins’ mode of beating for Quail is the true one 
This cunning little bird, having either the power, or the pecu 
liarity, of retaining its scent for some short time after alighting, 
when it is alarmed, so that the best dogs in the world shall fail 
to find it. This may be an accidental provision of nature, pos¬ 
sibly owing to some contraction of the pores, and consequent 
check of the odoriferous effluvium, owing to alarm; but I am 
rather inclined to believe that it is an absolute power of the 
bird, and arising from an exertion of will,—since I have inva¬ 
riably observed, during the period in which the Quail gives 
forth no scent, it cannot be forced to rise even in the openest 
and most easy ground, unless actually almost trodden on. 
I have repeatedly marked Quail, literally to a yard, both in 
open bog-meadows, and in woods of tall timber, clear of under¬ 
brush, and have beat unsuccessfully with good dogs, immedi¬ 
ately after marking them, until almost convinced that I was 
mistaken in the fact of their having dropped where I imagined. 
Yet, on returning afterward, when they had begun to move 
about, and call a little, I have found my first opinion to be cor¬ 
rect. 
On one occasion, I distinctly remember marking three Quail 
into a little briar patch, on a dry tussocky meadow, and seven 
more of the same bevy some fifty or sixty yards farther, into 
long grass and rushes, by the margin of a boggy stream, under 
willows. 
At this time I was perfectly aware of the peculiarity of which 
I am speaking; but, owing to the lay of the ground, and the 
direction of my beat, I had no option but to try it at once. I beat 
the briar patch, which could not have exceeded twenty yards in 
diameter, carefully to and fro, with a brace of Setters, crossing 
and recrossing it, and myself kicking and trampling the bushes, 
but in vain. 
