HITOOWEEK, the wood- 

 cock, the strangest hermit 

 in all the woods, is a bird 

 of mystery. Only the hunters know any- 

 thing about him, and they know him chiefly 

 as a glorious bird that flashes up to the alder 

 tops with a surprised twitter before their 

 dogs, and poises there a moment on whirring 

 wings to get his bearings, and then from his 

 vantage-point at the moment of his exulta- 

 tion he either falls down dead at the bang 

 of their guns and the rip of shot through 

 the screen of leaves, or else happily he slants 



