WOODCOCK SHOOTING 311 
dance of other kinds of shooting, for the woodcock is 
comparatively a rare bird and its season is a short one; 
therefore the keen edge of enjoyment of woodcock 
shooting is never dulled by surfeit. The habitat of 
the bird is distinctly different from the home of all 
other game birds, and on the earth’s surface only tiny 
spots here and there meet the wants of its nature, 
and many vast tracts of fertile country have no wood- 
cock ground at all. 
It, too, is a bird of mystery, of whose coming and 
going no one knows. It is nocturnal in its habits, and 
its haunts have been such secluded and unused spots 
—rarely invaded by man—that it is seldom seen. The 
residents of sections wherein is the home of the wood- 
cock may never see one from year’s end to year’s 
end, and, indeed, may go through life with no more 
knowledge of them than that derived from hearsay ; 
or, seeing one, may still remain in ignorance of its 
identity. While the quail, the partridge, the snipe, 
and other game birds are not unfamiliar to country 
residents and are readily identified by them, the wood- 
cock and its doings are shrouded in mystery. The 
large woodpecker in some sections is called woodcock 
by the country folk, while in other sections any plover 
which has a long bill is often called by the same name. 
So little is the bird known, that sometimes when killed 
it is called snipe, and sometimes the snipe is called 
woodcock, by those who have not given the bird spe- 
cial study or attention. Its life being so entirely with- 
out the sight of man and in general so little being 
