484 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



putting them up, one selects, if possible, a spot which is bordered on 

 both sides by buildings or high bushes, as the Woodcock likes to slip 

 in through openings or gaps of this kind. The net is hung upon 

 two poles, and has a line on each side which runs through pulley- 

 blocks fixed on the top of the poles. Long before daybreak the 

 fowler takes his stance beside one of the poles, holding in his hands 

 one of the lines on which the net is suspended ; he has to be very 

 careful to strike this line at the moment a cock flies into the net. 

 To cause the net to fall as quickly as possible, flints about the size 

 of two fists are fastened at its upper corners near the line, and if a 

 good watch is kept and the line runs clear in the blocks, it rarely 

 happens that a bird which has once got into the net escapes again. 

 These nets are made of strong grey thread; and although on a 

 clear day they may be seen from a considerable distance, birds which 

 happen to be making towards them fly in without being scared, some- 

 times even late in the morning. At present there are ten or twelve 

 of these nets on the island, on each of which a tax of five marks 

 (five shillings) a year has to be paid into the public treasury. 



As already mentioned, the Woodcock is also actively pursued 

 with the gun, but by no means according to the orthodox laws of 

 sport. Neither are the birds shot before the dog, nor is the sport 

 confined to such only as may be on the wing ; but they are killed at 

 any time and place, and under any circumstances in which one 

 may meet with them. Herein the remarkable keen-sightedness of 

 Heligolanders stands them in good stead. An experienced gunner, 

 while carefully examining the upper plain, the shore, or shingle, 

 will, at a distance of forty or fifty paces, discover a Woodcock 

 squatting flat on the ground, among dead grass or potato-stalks, or 

 dry sea tang, which last, from its close resemblance to the bird's 

 plumage, will still more effectively screen it from observation. 

 After he has espied his bird, the gunner stalks it until he gets 

 somewhat closer, and then suddenly fires. 



For this sort of sport, the later hours of the morning or fore- 

 noon are mostly chosen. Another method, which is equivalent 

 to taking the birds at flighting-time, consists in taking up one's 

 position at early dawn at the corner of some rock, and shooting 

 any birds which, as the day breaks, may happen to fly past. 

 This kind of sport, too, has its own peculiar charms. True, that it 

 may lack the idyllic beauty which at the time of the spring migra- 

 tion breathes through the woods, Avhich are budding forth in leafy 

 verdure, and jubilant with the song of birds ; still, any one whose 

 mind is susceptible to the influences of outward Nature must be 

 irresistibly impressed by the solemn grandeur with which she 

 unfolds herself on this island. 



