HUNTING BIRDS WITH CAMERA 



play to dig worms for it so early in the season a cold, 

 backward spring, too. Ned had not much time after 

 school, and I was busy. One day I dug for over an 

 hour and did not find worms enough for half a day's 

 rations. Later in the day, as I passed a store in the 

 town, I saw a boy standing idle, and an idea came to 

 me. "Don't you want to earn some money?" I asked 

 him. "Yes, sir," he replied. "All right," said I, "if 

 you will dig me some worms for my pet Woodcock I'll 

 give you ten cents a pound for them." That night he 

 brought a tomato can full and said he would get more. 

 The news spread rapidly among the boys that a sort of 

 gold mine had been discovered. There was a regular 

 procession of boys with worms, and I was kept busy 

 weighing worms and finding change for my "worm 

 brigade," as I called them. 



None were wasted, for the Woodcock was a marvel- 

 ous eater. When it first came it weighed five ounces. 

 Hearty eating soon brought it up to six and one-half, 

 and then it dropped to a good full six, where it remained 

 for months, until it was drowned one night in a terrific 

 thunder shower. I weighed the food carefully, and 

 found that it averaged about ten ounces of worms every 

 twenty-four hours. Seldom did it eat less than eight 

 ounces, often eleven, and once, when I weighed the 

 food, it disposed of an even twelve, twice its own weight. 

 "Ned," I said, "how much do you weigh?" "A hun- 

 dred and ten," he replied. 



"Well, if you were as big an eater as the Woodcock, 

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