SHOOTING THE WOODCOCK. 127 



good reason that vast numbers have been shot, 

 while those which are left have become more 

 wild and wary. Another reason for the seeming 

 absence of birds, except here and there, is simply 

 this : with us, grouse-shooting in the latter part of 

 August and September is so much easier, and 

 affords so much greater chance of success, that 

 very few go after woodcock in those months, and 

 the birds have it all to themselves in woody 

 swales, tangled thickets, and the islands over- 

 grown with the willow and the alder, until October 

 brings down the great division of birds bred to 

 the northward of the United States. 



Early in the season and during the hot weather 

 the woodcock is a lazy bird, and seems to labor 

 in its flight. It is not, however, easy to kill on 

 that account, for when it rises, often very close 

 to you, it goes up among the thick foliage, right 

 on end, as it were, to the top of the cover, and 

 then, after flying horizontally for about twenty 

 yards, it suddenly flops down again. When it 

 dodfe this after being shot at, men often think 

 they have killed it, while in truth not a feather 

 has been touched. The thickness of the covert in 

 full leaf prevents the shooter from having any- 

 thing but a glimpse of the bird, and he must 



