The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-30

one-horse wagon-laod, in which there must have been 800 of the little game birds Coming from the East, where a bag of a dozen quail would be consid- cred by the sportsmen a sufficient re- ward for hard and searching days hunt, I was naturally surprised to see such collection of the birds as that, and told the native so. sYes?' said he. Oh, them ain't so many when you come to think that I had to take dern nigh to a week in gettin' em to- gether. Quail is gettin powful skeerce, for some reason or other. They are so skeerce this fall, capt ain said he, turning to the storekeeper, that I'll have to tax you 50 cents a dozen for these.
 After some argument the bargain was made and closed at 50 cents doz- en for the lot-50 cents dozen for the plumpest choicest quail I had ever looked at. When the native had got his money and departed. I couldn't help expressing more surprise; and I said to the storekeeper that it didn't seem to me that quail could be very
 scarce in a country where you could go
 
 hunting a bag of quail like that
 Doesn't seem so, does it?' replied the storelxeeper. Quail are scarce in this country, though, just the same, as
 you would know if you had ever been
 through here when they were plentiful.
 But this lot wasn't got by even a
 weeks hunting. They weren't got by
 any hunting at all There isn't a mark
 of a shot on one of those birds. That
 man who sold them to me is solid
 and reputable citizen. He says he
 can't see what in the world is the
 reason quail are getting lso scarce, and
 he honestly believes what he says
 There are hundreds more just like
 him. They lament the growing scarity
 of quail in southern Kansas, and woTl-
 der what can be the reason.
 Five years ago a man like this one
 didn't think anything at all of going
 out and getting 200 or 300 quail a day.
 He didn't have any of his bird dogs in
 with him to-day, though he has some
 fine ones; but that horse he had to his
 wagon is perhaps the best quail stalk
 ing horse in southern Kansas. He
 stalked the most of those 70 dozen quail
 I just bought of his owner and I'll bet
 on it. When he goes after quail he
 takes net under his arm, mounts his
 horse, and accompanied by couple
 of his bird dogs trained for the work,
 rides to the prairie and slowly out up-
 on it until the dogs have located CO.,
 vey of quail, which they do without
 ever flushing bird. When they come
 to stand the quail-gatherer easily calculates the spot where the quail are and he dismounts and ties up his dogs. Selecting the most favorable ground for | his purpose, he sets his trap. This trap is a semi-circular net, from six to eight feet long. One end of it is closed, and it is kept in it's form by light wire [ arches placed at intervals along it's length.
 "'The fiat side of the net is placed on the ground, the net being drawn straight to it's full length Then from each side of it wing net is extended from the open end, 1aring out until the outer extremities are four feet long, I thus forming 9 three-sided inclosure, with wide opening narrowing down | to the entrance of the trap. When the trap is thus set, the quail gatherer l fixes deftly in the main net, about mid-