102 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



are devoted to whitooweek, and then we come 

 to a woodcock genius, who doctors his own broken 

 leg. This astonishing surgical skill is, as our 

 author says, "probably the discovery of one or 

 two rare individuals here and there more original 

 than their fellows." It may be, however, that a 



WOODCOCK MEXDlNr. HIS BROKEN LEG. 



woodcock must have his leg broken before he 

 has occasion to show the natural resources that 

 are in him. One day, while sitting quietly by a 

 brook, a woodcock fluttered out into the open 

 and made his way to a spot on a bank of light, 

 sticky mud and clay. The bird was acting 

 strangely in broad daylight, and our author could 

 see him plainly. At first he took soft clay in his 



