WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 89 



the remaining birds, as they seldom admit the dog 

 to point them a second time while under the in- 

 fluence of their first fears. 



Pass on until you come to another piece of wet 

 ground, when ten chances to one your dog points 

 again, and another brood springs. It is absurd 

 for writers to tell you that young cocks in July 

 are only half-fledged, and may be knocked down 

 with a pole. When flushed on the breeding 

 ground, their first flight, though seldom pro- 

 tracted beyond one hundred yards, is sufficiently 

 agile and vigorous to puzzle aught but a good 

 shot to bring both birds down; indeed, we have 

 known a young cock, refusing to lie a second 

 time to the dog, to fly entirely through a piece of 

 wood containing many acres, and take refuge at 

 last in the middle of a rye-field. 



Indeed, if for the purpose of observation and 

 inquiry, you traverse the woods at this period, 

 you will be fully satisfied of the power of their 

 flight, by watching the rapid and dexterous man- 

 ner in which they dart among the surrounding 

 tree trunks, very different from the lazy, listless 

 way in which the old birds flap over a meadow 

 in the glare of day. 



In making these remarks we would by no 

 means be understood to countenance cock shoot- 

 ing at this season of the year. 



