THE SPRINGE. 149 



upon a long narrow moor, which formed the 

 bottom of a glen, bounded on one side by a 

 steep declivity covered with heather, and crowned 

 with a few firs and hollies, and on the other by a 

 hanger of stunted oaks ; while a thick bed of 

 osiers, mingled with sedges and tussocks of 

 coarse grass, bordered the edge of the narrow 

 stream as it crept slowly through the middle of 

 the little valley. 



We soon found many tracks of the woodcock 

 on the black mud ; and on one spot these, as 

 well as the borings of his beak, were very nume- 

 rous. Here my companion halted, and pulling 

 out his knife, cut down a tall willow rod, which 

 he stuck firmly into the ground in nearly an 

 upright position, or perhaps rather inclining 

 backwards. On the opposite side of the run he 

 fixed a peg, so as to project only a few inches 

 above the surface : to this he fastened a slight 

 stick about a foot long, attached loosely with a 

 tough string, much as the swingel of a flail is to 

 its hand-staff: another branch of willow was bent 

 into an arch, and both ends driven into the soft 

 ground to a considerable depth on the opposite 

 side of the track, and nearer to the tall upright 

 wand. To the tip of the latter a string was now 

 fastened, the end of which was formed into a 

 large running noose ; while, about half-way down, 



