HABITS OF THE WOODCOCK. 143 



When woodcocks first arrive in this country, )'ou may 

 sometimes find them in hedge-rows, furze, heath, and 

 among small clumps of bushes, and two or three times 

 I have found them in turnip fields. But they soon re- 

 tire to the woods, and may at this time be frequently 

 found in the low cover of one or two years' growth ; but 

 if the covers are often disturbed by sportsmen they take 

 shelter in the high fells of ten or twelve years' growth. 

 If the winter is mild, woodcocks remain in the moun- 

 tains or high ground amongst the heath, and towards even- 

 ing take their flight to their feeding places ; but if the 

 weather becomes severe they then descend to the low and 

 marshy ground, where they are sometimes found in great 

 numbers. The first time you flush a cock he flies lazily, 

 and is an easy shot ; but after they have been flushed two 

 or three times, their flight becomes rapid even through the 

 high cover, until they have arrived above it, and are en- 

 abled to fly horizontally. In their sharp twists and turns 

 to accomplish this, the sportsman must be a quick and 

 good shot to kill them. • They are partial to lying near 

 the outside of the high fell, and when found there they 

 generally take their flight outside, and you get a clear 

 good shot. If you have marked a woodcock down in ? 

 wood where the bottom is dear, you may be pretty cer- 

 tain that as soon as he has alighted he will run, and a? 

 these birds, as well as snipes, almost always fly agains' 

 the %\ind, get a few yards to the windward of the bird, 

 and when you have reached the position, whistle as a 

 signal to the keeper or marker who is with you to flush 

 him, when nine times out of ten he will fly towards you, 

 and his fate is sealed. Woodcocks prefer lying in dry, 

 clear covers, where they are able to run. 



In Germany the jagers or gamekeepers kill a con- 

 siderable number of woodcocks, by waiting iu the even- 



