speaking of animals before the Contemporary 

 Club of Bridgeport when a gentleman, a law- 

 yer well known all over the state, came to 

 me and told me eagerly of a curious find he 

 had made the previous autumn. He was 

 gunning one day with a friend, when they 

 shot a woodcock, which on being brought in 

 by the dog was found to have a lump of hard 

 clay on one of its legs. Curious to know 

 what it meant he chipped the clay off with 

 his penknife and found a broken bone, which 

 was then almost healed and as straight as 

 ever. A few weeks later the bird, had he 

 lived, would undoubtedly have taken off the 

 cast himself and there would have been noth- 

 ing to indicate anything unusual about him. 

 So I give the observation now, at last, 

 since proof is at hand, not to indicate a 

 new or old habit of Whitooweek, 

 for how far the strange knowl- 

 edge is spread among the wood- 

 cock and the wading birds no 

 man can say, but 

 simply to indicate 

 how little we know of 



