THE WOODCOCK. 39 



threw themselves in air and sank with a splash 

 into the water; night-hawks by the score pitched 

 here and there over the water ; bands of ducks 

 went hissing by ; and from both shores rolled 

 across the waters the rich but mournful voice of 

 the whippoorwill. 



Woodcock-shooting on these bottom-lands at 

 high water is the very climax of shooting with 

 the shot-gun. In most sections heavy rains or 

 floods scatter woodcock and make them harder to 

 find. But on the upper Mississippi it is the 

 reverse, as the birds never go in numbers to any 

 timber but that in the bottoms. When there is 

 a heavy flood, about the time the birds are the 

 most plenty and about four fifths of the bottoms 

 are submerged, leaving the remainder a network 

 of islands and peninsulas, among which you may 

 paddle anywhere with a light boat, the birds are 

 concentrated on the dry spots. Half the time 

 the dog does not await the landing of the skiff, 

 but with head reaching over the bow, and tip of 

 tail quivering almost in your face, he stands rigid 

 as you could wish before the keel scrapes the 

 ground. Sometimes he springs but half-way out, 

 stopping with fore legs in the water and hind legs 



