Among the Callfornian Quail

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 February 1905, Page 335

Among the Callfornian Quail

MA-'AMMmmm

HE first of May, a clear, hard, nor' -west sky, and a stiff enough breeze to carry the birds down wind at a good deal above express train speed. Up on the great brown shoulders of the Makara hills the Californian quail are piping away cheerily, and as George and I stoop

through the plain wire fence that borders our road, with empty guns, we feel that our clay's sport is about to begin. At the edge of the stream that curves and twists among the stones, watercress and sweet-smelling banks of mint, we pause to load, whilst the dogs wallow in the crystal water. Taepo, the Belton setter, comes forth dripping at the snap of the closing breech, and looks on eagerly with lolling tongue and anxious eye. Moi Moi, our curly-eared spaniel, being of a more excitable nature, leaps hastily from his bath, and commences a frantic search among- the weeds and grasses at the creek edge. " Number eight quail shot/ remarks George, tightening his cartridge belt, when up bumps a plump grey rabbit, and goes scudding away uphill. Bang ! right 'barrel, and bunny collapses in a quivering

heap almost under the eager nose of the hurrying Moi Moi. " Fetch him here, good lad/ and the rabbit is soon nicked away in the game-bag netting. Kirst blood, though only a rabbit, we don't want many of them today, it is up above in the narrow scrub gullies that we must look for sport, where the quail are still calling cheerily on the clear morningair. In the scrubby fern at the foot of the first gully we flush a fine mob of some fifty dainty little top-knot-ted birds. " Whir-r-r-r-r !" "What a row, like a heavy gust of wind sweeping through tree-tops ! " Steady, boys !" The dogs pull up at the admonition, and commence scouting in half-circles. Now then for stragglers. We each take a side of the gully and advance slowly. Taepo glides forward with lowered head and outstretched neck, pauses a moment before a clump of fern, retraces a few steps, and stands tense and quivering at a thistle bush. "Look out, George !" The bird is o^ his side, and for him to attend to. At last Moi Moi arrives and blunders on top of the bird. « Whir-r-r-r-r ! Smack ! Bang !" Eight and left, a faint drift of bluish haze from the Schultze powder, and a few drifting feathers

mark the first bird down, to be retrieved by the spaniel a moment later. The day has begun, and now steady ahead for the rest of the mob. Two more birds rise before the cover is reached. One turns uphill, flying high, and 1 record a miss with the right barrel. The second bird swings away on a long curve clown the fern-clad slopes, and drops to the choke just as safety looms upi in high scrub, a dozen yards aheadAt last the dogs reach the edge of the main cover. A thick tangle of low rangiora bushes intermingled with clumps of mahoe and konini. Truly, an ideal patch for game. The dogs work into it methodically, and the shaking bush-tops denote the course they are pursuing. A strong gust of wind swoops down from the hill-crest high above with a scatter of grass stalks and dead leaves, and as it rushes by half-a-dozen quail rise on its downward swirl, and whiz past like a flash. There is no time to take aim, it is a case of snap shooting with a vengeance. Four shots ring out in rapid succession, and three of the birds pitch headlong amid clouds of feathers. A fourth sheds a few tail feathers, but skims on bravely around the corner and out of sight. Whilst the Linns are bein<>' emptied of the cartridge shells three more birds dash past in safety, ar.cl then the guns speak again as another batch of seven launch themselves upon the breeze. Meanwhile, numbers of the birds are flying off up the gully, skimming low down on the scrub, and as the two doa - s appear in a small open patch beyond the first cover, they are whistled back to bunt up the fallen birds. Now comes what is to the sportsman one of the most absorbing and interesting phases of animal life. The doors know at once what is required of them, no orders are given as they si in silently away down hill. One after another the birds ore nosed out. First one that has fallen on the open hillside, then a second lying in a tangle of dead

branches. At a thick growth of thistles, Taepo sets rigidly, and hastening- forward, we are in time to see him pounce upon a wounded bird. The spaniel flushes another that drops finally to a raking right barrel, and the tally is quickly completed. Eight birds for a start, each as plump and round as a cricket ball, and now uphill once more on the track of the survivors. The scrub grows thicker as we advance, and the birds, groAvn wary with their previous experience, are slow at taking wing. Moi Moi, the spaniel, however, dislodges several of them from the low branches of the scrub by his angry yapping, and now the shooting becomes keen indeed. Uphill, downhill, and straight at us, the little slate - coloured birds dash with surprising velocity, and a considerable number of tips and misses result from these tactics. Perhaps the most difficult shot is when a cunning old cock-quail hurls himself straight at me in a most disconcerting fashion. At about live yards distance he swerves suddenly and dashes off at right angles, he certainly deserves the clean miss that results. On the opposite side of the gully George is hard at work. First right and left, then two shots close upon pne another. Next a difficult, twisting snap, almost a complete, turn, and a cloud of feathers denotes a clean kill from a really splendid bit of shooting. For a while the birds break cover very reluctantly, and shooting becomes easier. There is more time to prepare, and in consequence the list of killed mounts up steadily. At last the remaining members of the mob, some thirty birds in all, play the usual game at this stage of the proceeding's by simultaneously breakinp; cover. This procedure is, perhaps, the most disconcerting that the sDortsman is called upon to face. Nine times out of ten he loses his head, and, firing at random into the brown of the bird, records a clean miss. The proper

course to pursue is to simply single out one bird and let the rest go, but this is a thing* that one seldom thinks of until both barrels of his !2"un have been emptied into space. Once more the dogs commence their search for killed and wounded, and in the thick cover of the gully the task proves an arduous one. With tireless energy they return

after each successful find to the tangle before them, and are finally called oft as the tally of killed is fully made up. Twenty-two birds are counted out in a feathered heap upon the grass, and the dogs, seeing the old fire-blackened billy produced from my game "bag, know from experience that the luncheon spell is at hand, and drop down

thankfully in the cool shade of the scrub. The luncheon spell at mid -day is one of the most pleasurable parts of the day's outing-. Sitting beside the cheerful blaze and crackle of the camp-fire, the morning's campaign is gone over again. The various shots are discussed at length. Notes are exchanged as to the merits of

different ways of taking difficult shots, and the killing qualities of the guns and ammunition are compared. All this to the hoarse bass of the sweeping" wind, now bio wingalmost a gale under the peerless blue of the wind-swept sky, and round about us the soft waving of long 1 grasses and the rustle and clatter of shaking leaves and

branches come as sweetest music to our ears. Half-an-hour's spell and the gamebags are once more donned, guns reloaded, and we start oft' in quest of a fresh mob. Working slowly round the steep hillside we are kept up to the mark 'by the restless Moi Moi, who persists in unearthing rabbits for us from every available patch of cover. One or two of them, dashing off with white bobbing- tails, form too enticing a shot to be overlooked. In consequence, to Moi Moi's great delight, they are bowled over and added to our bag, which now commences to assume quite respectable proportions. It is high up on a sun-warmed slope that we come across quail once more, when a whole covey goes buzzing oft' as we top the sky line. A long shot with the choke-bore fetches down a straggler, who, badly wounded, astonishes us by running- down a rabbit-burrow for sanctuary. This is an entirely new departure, as far as our knowledge serves us, and, determining to capture the bird, we commence digging out the burrow. In spite of the able co-operation of the dogs the task proves a long and arduous one, for the burrow is duo- amid large stones, and turns and twists in all directions. Finally, we arrive within arm's length of the end, and with; long stretchinp- are enabled to successfully bag, the bird. Upon drag-Q-ino- the prisoner out to the daylight, we discover that besides a broken wing the plucky little chap is hard hit in several places ; he is accordingly dispatched and put out of his misery. The gully in which the rest of the birds have sought refuge is a long and precipitous one, and in consequence extremely difficult to work. The only feasible -vay to beat it is to take side and side, reverting to the old tactics, and attempt to drive the birds up into the narrow gap at its head. With this object in view, we commence operations, and although the birds keep rising

some distance ahead of us for a start, we know that they are really playing into our hands. Near the top of the gully our care-fully-laid plans are very nearly upset by a sudden dash made by some half-dozen wary old birds in an attempt to make off downhill again. Both guns ring out almost simultaneously, and three of the birds pitch headlong into the tree-tops below. The others escape 'before our guns can be reloaded, but the sound of the shooting luckily deters the rest of the mob from making a similar attempt. At last the head of the gully is reached, and the cover thins out from low trees into tall fern and thick thistle clumps. The dogs are steadied down, and with almost bated breath we approach to within easy gunshot of the light cover. Not a sound comes from the fern as we steal quietly up, and yet we know that a fine covey of birds is in hiding there. With a warning call the eager Moi Moi is held in check, and the more sober setter is sent forward to reconnoitre. It is a beautiful sight to watch his strategic advance, casting first to right and then to left of the quarry, he works slowly forward with outstretched eager head and quivering nostrils. His long, feathery tail waves slowly at first and then stiffens suddenly as he piills up 'before a thick clump of "fern.-,, and sets immovable. A carefully?* thrown stick lands fairly into the cover, and with a great fluster a fine brace of email make a dash for liberty. " Bang ! whack !" both guns speak almost together, and the two pitch lifeless some sixty yards away. " Steady now, Taepo !" At the order the good dog settles down to work again, and casts off to the left with head held low. Again he sets, and this time a single bird breaks cover, and, flying straight at me,, first spoils my chances of a decent shot, and then escapes scot

free by dodging: behind some dead trees standing- directly behind me. Now the mob is fairly started, by two's and three's they streak for safety, and the gun barrels become quite heated with the rapid shooting. In spite of our speediest efforts at reloading, however, many of the birds escape scatheless, and even after all the mob appear to have been accounted for, we are still occasionally called into action by the sudden appearance of some straggler which is flushed by the dogs at the last moment. At length the dogs are called in, and the search for dead and wounded commenced. One after another the plump little birds are dropped at our feet, though some of the wounded require a aood deal of hunting down, finally the number of casualties is found to agree with our tally of actual hits, and the dogs are called off as we bag the fifteen birds that have been gathered in. Again we cross the shoulder of the ridge, and once more a <mllv very similar to the one we have just left opens out before us. Here we discover one or two stragglers of the last ill-fated mob, and our bag is further supplemented. One old cock successfully dodges my right barrel, and flying high up the open hillside, settles amontr some clumps of tussock grass. Feeling sure of him, 1 call the faithful Moi Moi, and reloading ray oun, set out to flush him for a final shot. On the way the spaniel starts a rabbit from some low furze, and away the two romp gaily to a chorus of lively yapping from the excitable Moi Moi. Expecting: to put up the bird easily by myself in the scant cover, I press forward to the place and commence kicking the tussocks, holding, my gun in readiness meanwhile. For a while my search proves unsuccessful, and just as I am beginning to think that the bird must have run on to further cover, T am suddenly thrown into confusion by » tremendous fluttering at my feet. Al-

most before I have time to realise what is the matter, the cunning- old bird is buzzing off at high speed. He forms a splendid target, flying straight away from me, but in my excitement at his sudden appearance, I empty both barrels, and record a clean miss. Looking at his hiding-place a moment later, 1 discover that 1 had actually trodden upon his tail, pulling out every feather of that appendage before putting him to flight, so closely had he lain in the grass. As the afternoon sun sinks slowly down towards the western ridges, we start upon the return journey along the old home trail with wellHlled bags. Our luck is once more in, for topping a low saddle, we come full upon a fine little mob of some thirty birds feeding in the open near a narrow i-crub gully. They at once dash for the cover, and thither we follow them, taking' up our positions on either side, prepared for action. Off steal the dogs at a low word of command, and they have scarcely entered the cover before the sport commences. The first bird out flies high, and George, who is above me on the ridge crest, takes him cleanly, sending him whirling in a cloud of feathers to my very feet. A second bird falls to my right barrel, and being merely wounded, runs a t astonishing speed into a clump of furze-bushes. Everything promises a keen 'bit of shooting, when suddenly the whole mob breaks cover with a whirring of wings. Tn an instant our aims are emptied, and they have vanished, leaving four of their number fluttering on the irrass. Ba^ginothese, we turn our attention to the wounded bird, which is smartly run down and caught by the spaniel, and then the lengthening shadows proclaim our sport over for the day. With the late afternoon the wind is freshening uo considerably, and scraps of flying 1 cloud are chasing one another across the sky. High up, over the hills, a hawk is wheeling in slow circles, as if looking for

any stragglers that we may have left wounded 'behind us. The dogs are going more soberly now, and stop to wallow in every stream that we cross. We are feeling well satisfied with our day's sport, our bag is not a phenomenal one by any means, but its filling has given us much genuine sport and enjoyment.

As we near the stream below the road again, the lively call of the quail sounds once more from the ridges above us, giving promise of many another day's sport to be liad in the future, and as night at last settles down upon us, we set out light-heartedly upon our ten-mile tramp homeward along the dusty road.