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Show THE HABITS OF "SOB WHITE." A Sportmnn Writes About Ills Kipcrleue with tha Quail. In studying the quail, says a writer In Hunting and I'ishing, one caunot fait to notlco tho almost complete clinugo of habits in this bird which attends at-tends tho tratisitlou from one season ol thu year to another. lit tho spring nnd summor tho onco shy and bevvkeeping Bob Whlto becomes Individualized nnd tamo wo say individualized because, although mated, man and wife nro nl-vns nl-vns ono flesh just nif truly among birds as among human beings. No longer in Hocks, Hob White turns up ovcrywhoro under your foet in tbo Holds, especially if you haunt tho vicinity vi-cinity of Ills ut-st and brooding mnto. You will frequently seo him running along by tho fouce, or even venturing out Into tbo road, while Ids cheery, sweet song for It is a song, albeit ol but two notes rings out again nnd again on the sunny air. So tamo ami regardless of her own safety docs tho female grow in tho nesting nest-ing season that not infrequently she will allow herself to bo almost trodden upon buforo leaving tho nest, and I havo known late-brooding birds in grass meadows to sit foarlessly upon their nost until cut to pieces by thu relentless re-lentless kulvcs of thomowlng-machino. Young quail nro perfect ilttlo necromancers. ne-cromancers. Almost as soon as they aro out of tho sliolt they seem to havn tho power of making themselves in-visiblo in-visiblo at tho wave of n wand. Wherever Wher-ever thoy go nobody can tell. Tho ground may bo ns baru ns a iloor, but somehow thoy manage to vanish utterly from tho eye. And this is n trick which thoy do not entirely forget as they grow older. It takes a sharp-eyed sprotsmnn to see a bevy of quail "be-foru "be-foru thoy rise, even if tho dog is pointing right nt them and tho grass is ns short as It is on a lawn. 15y August Bob White begins to take on a ditYercnt character altogether from that ho hns displayed during the spring and summer months. He ceases to perch himself in conspicuous places and sing for the delight of himself and his friends, botli feathered and uufeath-crcd. uufeath-crcd. Ho no longer makes excursions into exposed and dangerous localities, nor does lie trust to tho friendliness of every human boing who comes his way. Gradually ho begins to assemble his family and nearest relatives into a little community conducted oil tho simplest communistio principles, and nnimatcd by ono all-pervading desire to get through tho terrible open season without being brought to griddle. That Hob Whito has doveloped remarkable re-markable powers for realizing tills desire de-sire every sportsman will readily acknowledge. ac-knowledge. No bird can place so many yards between itself ami tho gun in two or three seconds ns tho lively little quail. It takes n remarkable quick shot to got iu both barrels effectively effect-ively at a bevy of quail, ovon when tho birds riso in tho open and tho sportsman sports-man has nn unobstructed vie A-. The almost irresistlblo tendency is to "lire nt the thick of 'cm," but, besides being unsportsmanlike, tills method is generally gen-erally ineffective also; for, whllo It may now and then cripplo a bird, itoftenor lets tho whole bevj get away suscathed, or clso sends two or threo slightly wounded biids into tho cover to die u cruel and lingering death. Tho phi- i losophy of this result is easy enough to I exlniti, for, thickly as a covey of quail i may seem to tho excited sportsman to fly together when thoy aro Hushed, a calm observation will show that tho intervals in-tervals between tho several birds nro almost nearly as great as tho spread of a chargo of shot at thirty yards. Thus it will tie seen that if tho center of tho chargo falls in ono of tiio intervals or , spaces, ns it is just so much moro llko- j ly to do as tho spaco is larger than a quail's body, tho only possible chauco is that a bird may be orippicd by tho outer pellets, and even this chance ii small compared with the alternative, which lias been previously stated. Therefore, my advise to tho truo sportsman sports-man in quuil-shooting is to shoot one bird for each barrol; make a cleau kill or nonn at all. And if you are not skillful nnd quick enough at tlrst to select a bird lor each barrol make sure of your first shot only, for a timn, until un-til .you get so that you can drop your bird quickly nnd neatly; then begin to attempt your dottblo on the principal which has bcou laid dowu. I made a practice of concentrating my nttontlon every tlmo on what I call tho "laggard" that is, tho bird nearest to mo when tho gnu is raised, or if tho bevy crosses mo Instead of going straight away it is tho last bird iu tho lino that I tiro nt. This rulo applies to tho use of both barrels. Select tho laggard each limej |