March, 1918 
F ORES T A N 1) S T R E A M 
151 
THE ELUSIVE BLUE QUAIL OF TEXAS 
ITS COLOR, ITS HABITAT IN CHAPARRAL, AND ITS PERPLEXING FLIGHT 
COMBINE TO MAKE IT A TARGET THAT TRIES THE SKILL OF SPORTSMEN 
A LL quail hunters, used to shooting at 
s straight-flying birds in the brown 
fields of the more settled parts of 
the country, find the blue Mexican quail 
the most perplexing feathered game they 
may hunt for. Gen. Pershing is authority 
for the statement that blue quail is the most 
difficult target of all the gallinaceous fam¬ 
ily, for several reasons: First, the bird’s 
color is in its favor. Trapshooters dread 
the dark blue pigeon because it is more 
inconspicuous than birds of other colors, 
and there is practically no difference in 
the blue of the blue pigeon and the Mexi¬ 
can quail. It is found only in chaparral, 
and the dark green surface over which it 
skims makes it even harder to distinguish. 
It is larger than the brown quail, some¬ 
what lighter in body, proportionately, and 
has a greater wing spread, which gives it 
more speed. Its method of using its wings 
is identical with that of other members of 
its tribe. That is, it makes the same buzz, 
or roar, only of a greater volume. The 
slightest undue depression of a pinion, 
however, accompanied by a shift of the 
tail and head, will send it darting almost 
at right angles to its course, and when 
the shot arrive they find only vacancy 
where there ought to be a bird. Hun¬ 
dreds of sportsmen in Southwestern Texas 
will guarantee to bag seven out of ten 
brown quails all day long, if the shooting 
be over corn or pea fields, but there has 
never been found one so good that his 
score would average better than one blue 
quail to every two shells expended. 
This variety, like its black-breasted 
cousin of the hills and canyons, gives no 
heed to the habitation of man in the vicin¬ 
ity. Fields of corn and oats abound in 
the Rio Grande section that are alive with 
the brown variety of quail. But never 
can blue quail be found in them. The 
bird breeds and lives altogether in the 
chaparral, and the thicker the growth the 
better it is suited. If the hunter encoun¬ 
ters a vast tangle of fifty varieties of 
prickly pears, cat-claw, mesquite, huisache 
and such shrubs, a tangle so thick and 
twisted that a rabbit must exert its wits to 
get through it, he may be certain that it 
contains a bevy or two of the Mexican 
quails. They frequent the more open places 
also, places so open that a man and dog 
can get along by the exercise of patience 
and fortitude against thorns, but to all in¬ 
tents their lives are passed where they are 
most protected against the animals which 
pursue them and the pirates of the air 
which await a chance to swoop on them. 
"I hey are fond also of thickets of wild 
pepper, because leopard cats and such 
things will not enter these places. 
T HE habitat of the blue quail of Texas 
is definitely defined. Its eastern edge 
is the Nueces River, which runs a 
generally southeastern course, some one 
hundred miles from the Rio Grande, and 
in the main parallel with it. It is not much 
hunted by man on account of the difficulty 
By H. G. TINSLEY 
of getting at it. Owing to its fecundity, it. 
would swarm in millions over all the coun¬ 
try which it favors but for the fact that 
Western Texas is singularly populous with 
destructive animals, and they are cunning 
and determined enough to keep the blue 
quail hordes within proper bounds. The 
bob-tailed cat, the long-tailed gray cat, 
the leopard cat, the fox, the coyote, the 
brush wolf, the raccoon, all are its sworn 
enemies, and seek its life with avidity. 
Furthermore, the air of this region up¬ 
bears not less than twenty distinct varie¬ 
ties of hawks, not to mention owls. Against 
most of these winged buccaneers the quail 
is protected by the tangle through which it 
moves. The eggs of the quail, too, are 
subject to destruction by snakes, mice and 
kangaroo rats. 
This latter rodent is worthy a narrative 
by himself. He is the most accomplished 
thief in the animal kingdom, will not only 
eat all of the eggs it can hold, but will lug 
them off and secrete them so carefully that 
it cannot find them again. It has the ami¬ 
able virtue of always leaving something in 
the place of a plundered article, so that the 
laying hen, returning to her nest from a 
foraging expedition, is apt to find it filled 
with bits of bark, or rotten pear apples, or 
a section of barbed wire, or anything, in 
fact, the rat can lift. 
Ornithologists say that while all galli¬ 
naceous birds are marvelously swift on 
foot, in proportion to their size, the blue 
quail is the swiftest thing on two legs. No 
gallinaceous bird hops. Its mode of pro¬ 
gression is the placing of one foot in front 
of the other, just as a man runs. The blue 
quail is not especially long-legged for its 
height. It carries a good deal of weight 
in the shape of a plump breast and broad 
back, but on moderately clear ground, un¬ 
less sufficiently frightened to take its 
wings, it puts the yards behind it in as¬ 
tonishing fashion. So great is its speed 
that it will rarely lie to a dog. 
Consequently, in hunting it a pointer of 
great stanchness, which will come down on 
a scent and hold it until the cows wander 
home, is of no earthly use. While he is 
converting himself into a rigid figure and 
going into catalepsy with his tail out and 
his nostrils flaring, the bevy will be fifty 
yards away and speeding like the wind. 
Therefore, hunting them on foot is a des¬ 
perately fatiguing business. Any man who 
hopes to make a respectable bag must go 
at a rapid walk nearly all of the day. 
When his dog shows signs that the game 
is near the animal must be urged forward 
with all speed, and the man with the gun 
must keep up with the dog, ready for the 
birds when they flush, which they will do 
generally in moderately open cover when 
their pursuers have approached within 
twenty yards. The distance at which they 
flush must be added to the swiftness and 
eccentricity of their flight as a factor in 
making uncertain the results of turning 
loose both barrels at them. Because of the 
active life it leads the bird has a great 
deal of vitality and will stand a lot of 
killing. It carries, too, a thick coat of 
feathers, so tough that those on the breast 
will check shot at sixty yards. Because 
of this vitality and half-coat of mail, and 
the distance at which it rises, the charge 
which would prove ordinarily fatal against 
brown quail shot in the open are too light 
for blue quail shooting in chaparral. Bet¬ 
ter results are obtained from No. 6 pellets 
driven by three and a half drams of mod¬ 
erately quick powder in a 12-gauge gun 
than from other leads, though many men 
who follow the brush bird prefer No. 4’s. 
When it comes to dogs in hunting the 
blue quail of Texas, there is a new prob¬ 
lem. Nearly all pointers, or setters for 
that matter, when used against only one 
kind of game come in a little while to 
know all of its peculiarities and they set 
their wits against the wits of the quarry. 
A pointer that made a business of heading 
off brown quails, huddling them and hold¬ 
ing them huddled until his master’s arrival, 
would be something of a curiosity in the 
old states, but is common enough here. 
There are many dogs that, striking the 
scent of a blue bevy, will follow it cautious¬ 
ly until they know the birds are running, 
then dash off to one side at full speed, 
make a half circle, get in front of them 
and so hold them until the man behind 
catches up with them and flushes them. It 
Is not believed that the noble pointer does 
this through any uncontrollable desire to 
see his master shoot, but merely because 
when he rounds up the birds there is just 
so much less work for him. Self-interest 
is as strong in pointers as in humanity. 
And then the quickness of the blue quail 
hunter is to be considered. The person 
who gets his one blue quail out of two all 
day long, and thereby entitles himself to a 
front seat at all conventions of shotgun 
folks, must be a person able to shoot with¬ 
in one second of the first sound of the 
buzzing roar which follows the upspring- 
ing of the quarry. No time is afforded any 
(continued on page 1701 
