THE WOODCOCK GENIUS 101 



himself into the fight, clawing and snapping like 

 a fury and sending out his battle yell. He threw 

 himself upon the dog that held the first coon's 

 neck, and crushed a paw with a single grip of 

 his powerful jaws; then the bigger coon was on 

 his feet again fighting feebly. The owner of the 

 dogs started for the fight swinging a big club, 

 then drew back ashamed. "Save him," was 

 whispered, "the little fellow deserves his life." 

 "Drag off the dogs!" he roared. Every hunter 

 understood. The dogs were dragged away by 

 tails and legs; the big coon lay down quietly to 

 die, but the little fellow put his back up against 

 a rock and snarled his defiance at the whole 

 howling mob, and there he stayed till the hunter 

 took a pole and drove him, still protesting sav- 

 agely, into another tree where the dogs could 

 not get at him. 



The Woodcock, or whitooweek the hermit, as 

 the Indians call this singular bird the strangest 

 hermit in all the woods, a bird of mystery. Our 

 author gives a very interesting account of his 

 habits; he spends all the sunny hours in the 

 dark woods, and only stirs abroad in the soft 

 twilight. " Of a hundred farmers," says he, " on 

 whose lands I have found whitooweek, or the 

 signs of his recent feeding, scarcely five knew 

 from observation that such a bird existed, so 

 well does he play the hermit under our very 

 noses." More than forty pages of good reading 



