BLACKCOCK SHOOTING IN BOHEMIA 



nite precautions at length managed to get a sight of 

 the battle. 



The combatants were hopping round one another, 

 when I first spied them, each one evidently bent on 

 securing some advantage in the attack. Now they 

 would advance, now retreat, then both would leap a 

 foot or so into the air, and all the time the clucking 

 and gobbling went on without intermission. At 

 length they clinched, and went at it beak, wing, 

 and claw. I might with good luck have killed 

 them both with one shot, but it was my first 

 morning with the blackcock, and I was anxious 

 to see the end of this strange battle. 



A fierce fight of a minute or so's duration, and 

 then I could see that one of them was evidently 

 getting the worst of it. For a few seconds more he 

 defended himself, and then, breaking away, he rose 

 from the ground, and went whirring away over the 

 forest defeated ! 



My turn came next The first rays of the sun 

 were penetrating the morning mist, as I poked my 

 gun barrels through a hole in my shelter lighting 

 up the glowing black plumage of the victor as he 

 triumphantly " gobbled " before the gaze of his 

 admiring wives. 



I took him sitting I confess it ! or rather turn- 

 ing, for he was revolving on his own axis like 

 a humming-top. 



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