WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 103 



along the banks of the Delaware, by those who 

 pursue this sport for pleasure or profit. It is 

 quite a frequent occurrence in favorable seasons, 

 for two or three good shots to kill from twenty to 

 thirty cocks before nine o'clock in the morning, 

 between the navy-yard and the mouth of the 

 Schuylkill, a distance of five miles. In fact, 

 to enjoy this kind of shooting at all, you must 

 be up and off long before sunrise, so as to be 

 on the ground and have your sport over be- 

 fore the heat of the day. If the weather has 

 been dry for some time previous, you may be cer- 

 tain of finding birds in " the cripples," that is, 

 if your purpose has not been forestalled by some 

 detachment of bank-shooters, who would appear 

 to have slept on their arms under the trees in 

 some adjoining meadow, so as to commence the 

 action as soon as it is light enough to shoot, The 

 vociferous clamor and continued firing of the 

 sharp-shooters, when birds are abundant, furnish 

 no bad representation of a skirmish in the gray 

 of dawn, while their flushed faces and constant 

 dodging up and down the bank (often loading as 

 they run) to keep pace with the yells of their 

 canine assistants and the shouts of their compa- 

 nions in the covert, in no wise detract from the 

 merits of the scene. It is customary for them to 



