WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 105 



and more especially pointers, who, in the lan- 

 guage of the doggerel, 



Would flush a woodcock in a swamp, 

 And stand it in the clear. 



But these instances are rare, and if you have any 

 regard for the standing of your dog, do not suffer 

 him to enter a cripple. 



However, the bank-shooters are at their sta- 

 tions; the dogs dash in, and presently you 

 hear a yell, followed by a shot, or a shout of 

 "mark! bird up!" from within, and a report or 

 two from the bank, or the outside, according to 

 the direction which the bird takes. You may 

 readily imagine what ensues, when you are told 

 that every step in the dark cover is in deep, black 

 mire, strewn with decaying drift-wood, and over- 

 grown with stunted trees, reeds and thick alder 

 bushes, and when the birds are put up rapidly, 

 the alarm-notes, firing, and yells of men and dogs 

 increase in proportion, while the affrighted ob- 

 jects of pursuit, driven from every covert by the 

 dogs, dart up and down the cripple, to fall vic- 

 tims at last to the unerring aim of the marks- 

 men. When the latter are up to their business, 

 few, indeed, escape, although it must be said that, 

 if the woodcock is naturally a stupid bird, as 

 .some people assert, cripple shooting is a rare 



