58 WING-SHOOTING. 



WOODCOCK. 



The woodcock is a nocturual bird, feeding chiefly at 

 night or early dawn ; and may exist in large numbers in 

 a locality, and still its presence not be suspected, unless by 

 the sportsman who is familiar with its habits and haunts. 



Woodcock winter in the South, and if the season be 

 forward in this country they make their appearance some 

 time during the first half of April, and usually begin to 

 take their departure during the last week of October, but 

 if the season be mild, some of them may remain for a 

 week or ten days later. They begin laying their eggs late 

 in April, or early in May, and the usual number of young 

 at a hatching is four birds, and if the first brood gets ofi" 

 early, or if the nest be destroyed, the old couple proceed 

 to a second hatching. By statute we are permitted to 

 kill this bird in July, when the flight of the young is slow 

 and of short duration, so that most of the young birds are 

 killed oflT when only half-fledged, and when the old ones, 

 in many instances, are still engaged in hatching or rearing 

 a second brood. For that reason, the time for cock-shoot- 

 ing should not commence till the first of September, when 

 we might expect to have grand sport all through the lat- 



