WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 79 



" That joyous sound I love to hear, 

 Ringing merrily, loud and clear." 



In the behavior of this attractive bird there is a 

 remarkable inconsistency. At times he is a tame, 

 stupid, lazy, fluttering bird, which you can apparently 

 knock over with a bean-pole ; anon, rapid in flight, 

 and cunning in his movements, he will dodge and turn 

 sharp corners, and come back to his starting-point, 

 where the novice sportsman would never think of 

 finding him, showing in all a sagacity which makes 

 him a respected bird. In July he is easily killed, if 

 struck with the finest shot, and his flight is generally 

 short, with about all the angles treated of in geometry. 

 But in the months of October and November a wood- 

 cock is quite another creature. Instead of the gaunt 

 and slim, comparatively tame and inferior-looking bird 

 which you find in July, he has now become a much 

 heavier one, with full, beautiful, dark variegated plum- 

 age and with a splendid yellow belly, which almost 

 always shows itself when he is killed. He moves on 

 his pinions with a velocity not exceeded by that of any 

 other bird, from the time he is flushed until he is cut 

 down by the snap shot. He startles, exhilarates, and 

 leaves you, and is out of sight, with his sharp sound 

 ringing in your ears, before you can draw a bead on 

 him, or even get your gun to your shoulder, unless you 

 are an expert shot. 



The woodcock is a migratory bird, coming to the 

 North in the months of March and April, sometimes 

 when the snow is still on the ground. At such times 

 he is found living in the dense woods, in warm, se- 



