WARWICK WOODLANDS. 110 



" Yes ! but this time we will violate my rule about the cop- 

 per caps there is no rule, you are aware, but what has some 

 exception and the exception to this of mine is, always take 

 off your copper caps before getting into a wagon ; the jar will 

 occasionally explode them, an upset will undoubtedly. So un- 

 cap, Messrs. Forester and A , and put the bright little ex- 

 ploders into your pockets, where they will be both safe and 

 handy ! And now, birds are in, drinks are in, dogs and guns 

 are in, and now let us be off!" 



No more words were wasted ; the landlord's bill was paid, 

 Frank Forester and Timothy got up behind, the Commodore 

 took the front seat, Harry sprang, reins in hand, to the box, and 

 off they bowled, with lamps and cigars burning merrily, for it 

 was now quite dark, along the well-known mountain road, which 

 Archer boasted he could drive as safely in the most gloomy 

 night of winter as in a summer noon. And so it proved this 

 time, for though he piloted his horses with a cool head and 

 delicate finger through every sort of difficulty that a road can 

 offer, up long and toilsome hills without a rail between the nar- 

 row track and the deep precipice, down sharp and stony pitches, 

 over loose clattering bridges, along wet marshy levels, he never 

 seemed in doubt or trouble for a moment, but talked and laughed 

 away, as if he were a mere spectator. 



After they had gone a few miles on their way " you broke 

 off short, Archer,'* said the Commodore, "in the middle of your 

 dissertation on the natural history and habits of the woodcock, 

 turning a propos des bottes to the cruelty of killing them in 

 midsummer. In all which, by the way, I quite agree with you. 

 But I don't want to lose the rest of your lucubrations on this 

 most interesting topic. What do you think becomes of the 

 birds in August, after the moult begins ?" 



" Verily, Commodore, that is a positive poser. Many good 

 sportsmen believe that they remain where they were before ; 

 getting into the thickest and wettest brakes, refusing to rise be- 

 fore the dog, and giving out little or no scent !" 



" Do you believe this ?" 



" No ; I believe there is a brief migration, but whither I can- 

 not tell you with any certainty. Some birds do stay, as they 

 assert ; and that a few do stay, and do give out enough scent to 

 enable dogs to find them, is a proof to me that all do not. A 

 good sportsman can always find a few birds even during the 

 moult, and I do not think that birds killed at that time are at 



