230 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
we have killed between us nearly thirty birds. With 
old hunters the average is always more, and a whole 
night’s labor, if successful, is often rewarded with a 
round hundred. 
Practice and experience, as a matter of course, have 
much to do with success in this sport, but less than in * 
any other; for we have known tyros, on one or two occa- 
sions, to do very well with clubs; while the negroes 
have thrashed them down by “ baskets-full” with whips 
made of bundles of young cane, the birds being so thick 
that some could be brought down even in this way, while 
endeavoring, in their confusion, to get out of the glare 
of the torch. 
This fact, and the quantity of birds killed, attest to 
the extraordinary numbers that inhabit this particular 
section of country. 
Let the birds, however, be less numerous than we 
have described, and they are on some days more plenti- 
ful than on others, and one who is a good shot, in the or- 
dinary way of hunting the bird, has only to overcome his 
astonishment, and we will add, horror, at the mode in 
which he sees his favorite game killed, to be a perfect 
master of woodcock fire-hunting under all circumstances. 
It is common with those who are fond of sport, and 
have some sentiment about them, never to fire until the 
bird rises, and then to bring down a bird with each 
barrel. 
This requires quick shooting, as the torch only sheds 
