694 The American Woodcock. 



and the scent is strong. You can see his eyes roll as he looks 

 over the ground before "him. His forehead is knotted into a frown, 

 which shows how thoroughly in earnest he is. If you did not care 

 about getting the shot, you might take the dog up by the tail and 

 the back of the neck and throw him down to the ground without 

 his relaxing a muscle. He would remain in exactly the position 

 he had when he touched the earth again, This is an experiment 

 which one may easily make when out quail-shooting, and it is inter- 

 esting to see how completely the knowledge of the presence of game 

 overcomes the will-power of the animal. He will not make a move- 

 ment after he has established his point. You may put the raised 

 forefoot on the ground, and lift the other one, or may raise a hind- 

 foot — everything remains just as you placed it. 



But your bird does not usually lie long enough for any of these 

 operations to be gone through with. He is likely to fly up, from 

 beneath the dog's nose, so close to you that you cannot shoot with- 

 out running the risk of either, missing altogether, or else blowing 

 him to fragments, and will then, perhaps, dart behind a thick cedar, 

 or twist into some alders, through which you can hardly see to shoot. 



The "alder runs," so numerous throughout the New England 

 States, are most satisfactory places to work for woodcock. These 

 are usually the channels of little brooks, a few feet below the general 

 level of the open meadows through which they pass. The ground 

 is too damp to be successfully cultivated, and the farmer gives it up 

 to the black alder, which attains a height of from fifteen to twenty 

 feet. Beneath these, in the wet, springy soil, the skunk-cabbage 

 ( Symplocarptis ), a variety of ferns, and many other moisture-loving 

 plants grow in wild luxuriance. These "runs," or swales, are often 

 so narrow that the best way to hunt them, if two are shooting to- 

 gether, is for one to take each side and let the dog work between 

 them. The birds, when started, will either show themselves above 

 the alders or, what is more likely, will break out on one side or 

 the other, and fly forward along the edge of the bushes, giving a 

 perfectly open shot, and one which not even a tyro ought to miss. 

 In working out such places the bell should be put on the dog, for it is 

 often so dark beneath the thick growth that it is difficult to see him. 

 Should he come to a point and the bird decline to rise, a heavy stick or 

 stone thrown into the bushes, just in front of him, will often flush it. 



