COCK SHOOTING. 169 



and stone, interspersed with shallow pools, are 

 to be found. These quarters should be cau- 

 tiously approached, especially after the coverts 

 have been emptied. Cocks often make for 

 them, and when they do will fly wildly, never 

 allowing a dog near them. A cock springing 

 from the heather or the ferns gives much the 

 same sort of a shot as the snipe, but you must 

 be prepared for surprises, of which the snipe 

 seems to know nothing. Now and again, as 

 a bowler in desperate shift tries a slow sneak- 

 ing ball what time the batsman is expecting a 

 cracker, the woodcock, when you think he is 

 about to bound off, hangs heavily on his wings 

 for a baffling instant, and so lets your hasty 

 cartridges pass right over his queer triangular 

 head. 



The conditions of shooting and pursuing all 

 game birds are subject to change according to 

 the weather. In frost and snow, especially, the 

 rules for seeking game must be entirely re- 

 vised. During severe weather, snow especially, 

 the cock will be mostly discovered in the same 

 description of quarters frequented by his cousin 

 the snipe under similar circumstances, with this 



