76 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



grounds before you, rapidly scaling the air by a 

 series of short, spiral evolutions, until it has 

 attained a height equal, perhaps, to that of a tall 

 poplar in the vicinity ; then sailing to and fro 

 in a slow, devious circuit, it seems to survey the 

 meadow beneath, while a low, murmuring sound, 

 which has something questful in its cadence, 

 drops, as it were, on your ear from the twilight 

 sky ; listening to this, you again hear a sharp, 

 impatient "pa-a-ck" and see the bird shoot di- 

 rectly down close to the spot from whence it 

 arose, again uttering its last, harsh, guttural cry 

 as it touches the ground. 



This singular flight is repeated twice or thrice, 

 at short intervals, the harsh note on the ground 

 becoming each time more significant and dis- 

 tinct. It is the love-call of the male ; the spiral 

 ascent and subsequent motions in the air are 

 the bird's mode of wooing ; and you may be sure 

 that the female is coquettishly lurking in the 

 grass close by, or, perhaps, running, with droop- 

 ing wings, to meet her destined mate as he de- 

 scends. 



"Do you know what bird that is?" your 

 attendant asks, pointing toward the meadow with 

 his unshorn chin. 



" Certainly," you reply ; " it is a woodcock." 



