328 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



happens tliat woodcocks lie very close, and are most reluctant to rise 

 from their favomite haunts ; and after hein^ driven up, settle again, 

 like jack-snipes, within a few yards of the spot from which they 

 were flushed. 



The sportsman sometimes meets with extraordinary g-ood sport 

 with these birds in the month of March, when they seek the coast, in 

 order to be ready for departure on the first favourable opportunity : 

 if the wind be fair they g-o at once, but if otherwise they remain in 

 the neighbouring woods, awaiting a more suitable chance. They 

 may be easily flushed on these occasions ; and they sometimes aff"ord 

 much sudden and unexpected diversion to the sportsman. 



During the early season of their arrival, woodcocks may frequently 

 be found on the moors, where they quickly recruit their condition in 

 the rich and miry grounds which abound there. But be those spots 

 ever so rich, and the productions of the moors ever so dainty, the 

 first frost warns them that an open country is not suited to their 

 habits or their nature ; and they then seek food and shelter in the 

 nearest woods, always preferring the thickest and most impenetrable 

 covers by day ; and, at twilight in the evening and early in the 

 morning, visiting swamps and fens such as are least afiected by frost. 

 It is the nature of the woodcock to feed and fly by night ; and when 

 undisturbed, to roost and shelter by day. 



. The time of their evening flight is rather earlier than that of wild- 

 fowl. It is just at the commencement of twilight that the woodcock 

 moves from its daily retreat to its nocturnal feeding-grounds. Col- 

 quhoun says, when the shrill chirp of the blackbird is heard in the 

 grove, it is a good warning bell that the woodcock is about leaving 

 its haunts.* 



A careful, observer of the route taken by woodcocks on leaving or 

 returning to the wood in their daily flights, may generally make 

 pretty certain of a shot by occupying a secluded position, so as to 

 intercept them either on leaving or returning to the wood. It is the 

 habit of woodcocks, when uninterrupted, to leave their retreats at 

 eve, and return in the morning with great regularity through the 

 very same glades, and frequently to the same spot as that in which 

 they rested on the day previously. 



Everyone accustomed to the sport of woodcock-shooting* is 

 familiarly acquainted with the signal "Mark, cock!" and the 



* Vide " Rocks and Rivers," by John Colquhomi, Esq. : a.d. 1849. 



