Book excerpt: Hunting the Quails of North America is quintessential Ben O. Williams taut, direct, suffused with earned knowledge, and permeated by a gentle humor. It is a joyous book, brimming with its authors love of life afield, and while easily the most useful guide extant on the subject of wingshooting North American quails, it is also far more than a how-to manual. Its pages serve up wisdom, vision, and finally the ineffable and heartbreaking beauty of days spent out of doors. David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars and East of the Mountains. For Ben Williams, there is something very special about bird hunting. This book is not only about hunting game birds, bird dogs and bird guns, although they have been an important part of Williams life. Its also about each birds origin, distribution, life cycle, behavior, habitat, food and daily routine. Its about what Williams calls Learning Wild Things. Six species of quail are covered, each discussed in terms of when Williams first hunted the bird, exploring the bird's life cycle, and explaining how Williams hunts the bird today. These essays are about hunting wild things and wild places with clouds moving overhead and rocks beneath one's boots.