COCK IN THE COLIN. 65 



COCK IN THE CORN. 



The boys used to inform me of great numbers of wood- 

 cock that were flushed by them when hunting for 'coons 

 at night, in the corn, and on beating the same fields a day 

 or two afterwards, I very seldom found a bird. In order 

 to satisfy myself as to the veracity of these youthful 

 'coon-hunters, I accompanied them on several occasions, 

 and was not a little surprised to so frequently hear the 

 chit, chit, chit of the woodcock in the same fields that I 

 had hunted over, only a day or two before. From these 

 nightly excursions I was led to the conclusion that wood- 

 cock were in the habit of leaving the coverts on moon- 

 light nights for other feeding-grounds, as they were so 

 frequently flushed by us, not only in cornfields, but also 

 in meadows and on hill sides. 



In very w.et seasons, woodcock visit cornfields in Au- 

 gust and September, but as a rule, not many were found, 

 on my shooting excursions, early in the autumn in corn- 

 fields, but the great number of billings and markings were 

 too frequently seen to doubt that these fields were a por- 

 tion of their feeding grounds. I used to have excellent 

 sport in the corn up to the time that the corn was har- 

 vested, wdiich was about the middle of October, On one 



