WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 285 



woodcock-shooting in July will probably prevail, while 

 woodcock can be found to shoot. 



The early morning and the latter afternoon, are, so far 

 as comfort both of dog and man prescribes, the preferable 

 time of day for pursuing this sport though in other 

 respects, as the woodcock, unlike the quail and ruffed 

 grouse, feeds and lies up for rest on the same ground, and 

 in moist shadowy woodlands is more or less on the move, 

 and to be found all day long, it is a matter of no conse- 

 quence at what hour they are hunted. 



Than a July woodcock, when he is first flushed over 

 dogs, there is no easier bird in the world to kill, the only 

 possible difficulty arising from the thick coverts in which 

 he often lies, and the fulness of the summer verdure. 



The old birds flap up lazily, hovering their half-grown 

 broods, and, unwilling to desert them, will often drop again 

 within twenty feet of the muzzle of a gun which has just 

 been discharged at them j and the young rise like owls, 

 often fly almost into the shooter's face, so that they might 

 be knocked down with the gun, and from pure inability to 

 sustain a long flight, generally can be found again if missed 

 within thirty yards. It is not once in twenty times that 

 they will quit the covert in which they are bred, and fly 

 across the open to a neighboring woodland. 



When they lie in thick covert, it is well, as soon as the 

 dog points, that one of the shooters should select an open 

 spot or glade, where he can command the bird when he 

 rises ; as it is more than probable that he, whose point it is, 

 will hardly get a shot at the bird, unless he be a very 

 quick workman indeed in thick covert. There will be no 



