WOODCOCK. 61 



we had that fall on the great brown beauties ! The fol- 

 lowing year, the last one that I was in tfil!,t locality, af- 

 forded the finest cock shooting that I ever have had, and 

 this fine shooting I attribute, to a certain extent, to the 

 fact that the birds were spared in July and August the 

 previous year. I shall qualify this statement somewhat, 

 and in this way. For two or three years in succession 

 woodcock may be quite numerous, and the year following, 

 they may be scarce. This may be accounted for by the 

 state of the weather during their migration north. If the 

 spring be an early one, without any severe and cold wea- 

 ther setting in, they appear early and in large numbers, 

 but if the weather be cold for a length of time, the birds 

 do not reach us in large numbers. This I have noticed 

 for many years, and can, to almost a certainty, predict a 

 good or indifferent cock -year. 



Haunts. — Woodcock are usually found on low grounds 

 in willows, alders, and thickets standing on wet grounds. 

 After the autumn rains set in they change their feeding- 

 grounds, and are often found on elevated situations that 

 contain a certain degree of moisture ; their brooding- 

 places, when apparently quite dry, being famous haunts 

 for them ; in corn-fields, nettles, elders, patches of white 

 birch, and along fences lined with brush and trees ; and, 



