26 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
birds were plentiful, but were so wild that we could not 
get shots at half of those we found. The two of us 
killed fourteen. 
“The next night was bright also, and I suggested a 
new scheme. I, being a crack wing shot, was to load 
my gun with the ordinary bird load, while my com- 
panion was to use the squib; he to shoot them on the 
ground and I to shoot those on the wing when flushed. 
“T instructed the light-carrier that when a bird 
rose for flight he should keep the rays of light on 
him as he flew. This was easily done by tilting the 
lamp with the hands. The results of the hunt were 
twenty-nine; my companion killed fourteen and I 
killed fifteen, all flying. I do not now recall that I 
missed a single shot. Several times my companion, 
shooting at too long range for his squib load, missed, 
and I killed the bird in the air. But it was not re- 
markable shooting at all, for when the light was 
thrown on him he seemed practically to stop in the 
air. I could almost have killed them with a rifle.” 
The vast alluvial region of southern Louisiana has 
many large areas peculiarly favorable to woodcock life. 
Years ago, before the pothunter had effected so much 
destruction, the woodcock congregated in those regions 
in vast numbers in November and December. The 
heavy tropical rains, of whose volume and persistency 
the northern resident has little conception, softened 
vast areas of land, cultivated and uncultivated, and 
thus fitted them for the feeding grounds of the wood- 
