314 AMEEICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTIIifG. 



districts where moisture and worms are plentiful, but 

 they carefully avoid sour meadows and thirsty lands. 

 They are partial to the banks of streams that meander 

 through woods, the sedge-bound bayous so common in 

 the South, the sides of meadows at the foot of hills, and 

 oozy beds covered with aquatic vegetation. They also 

 frequent open woods having a rich alluvial soil, and flat 

 lands adjacent to rivers which overflow their banks. 

 Cool, shady, moist ground is a favorite resting place in 

 sultry weather, especially if a hot breeze is blowing. 

 They are often found in places the ojjposite of each other 

 in character, and the arbitrary manner in which they 

 change their residences, seemingly without any purpose, 

 is puzzling to the sportsman, for where tbey are abundant 

 one day they may be invisible the next, and vice versa. 



Being somewhat indolent in the early part of the sea- 

 son and in warm weather, they often wait until a man is 

 very close to them before flushing, but when they do 

 flush, they rise like a rocket and skim along the tops of 

 the trees, only to sink like a lump of lead after flying a 

 few yards. This habit of theirs makes shooting them 

 rather difficult, as persons have no time to take aim, and 

 must therefore be content with snapshots. If they fly in 

 partially open ground, a man can afford to take deliber- 

 ate aim at them, but he must fire the moment he catches 

 sight of them in cover. The best dogs for woodcock work 

 are Cocker spaniels, as they can penetrate the thickets, 

 owing to their small size and thick coat, and being slow, 

 one can easily keep up with them. If they run mute, a 

 bell can be tied to their necks, and that will inform the 

 sportsman were tbey are; and should it cease jingling, it 

 is a sign that they have come to a point. Some dogs do 

 not at first take kindly to this sort of work, on account, 

 it is supposed, of the disagreeable scent of the woodcock, 

 but they get over their repugnance after a while if 

 they are thoroughbred, though they may always dislike 



