VI 



Blackcock Shooting in Bohemia 



TO be dragged out of bed at two o'clock on a 

 chilly April morning ; to walk or drive for 

 an hour or two to a clearing in the woods, 

 where one sits, shivering with cold, until daybreak ; 

 all for the sake of potting a bird sitting on the 

 ground, does not sound to the uninitiated very 

 inviting. 



But, unexciting as this sport may sound, there is 

 something that renders it intensely fascinating. Is 

 the trouble and discomfort entailed the secret ? Or 

 the strange habits of the bird itself? Or is it merely 

 the time of day the witching hour of daybreak 

 that makes one ready and eager to turn out morning 

 after morning ? 



There is a great charm in that mystic change from 

 night to day in seeing the grey dawn creep over 

 the darkened landscape in watching the stars pale 

 and die in the stronger and brighter light of the sun 

 in hearing the morning song of the awakening 

 birds, and the other myriad sounds that herald the 

 new-born day. 



97 



