66 VARIETIES OP SHOOTING. 



stupid bird because he will sometimes fly right at you. I 

 don't think a hare is a stupid animal, yet she will often run 

 directly towards you. I have observed that the position 

 * in the head ' of the eyes of a hare and of a woodcock are 

 'very similar. I have heard that that circumstance prevents 

 'either animal from seeing straight before it. 



" So far from being a stupid bird, I know of no bird which 

 "possesses sagacity to be compared with that of a woodcock. 

 The means of escape to which, when pursued, he resorts are 

 worthy of the highest meed of commendation which his 

 pursuers can bestow on him. At present I abstain from 

 quoting remarkable instances which have come under my 

 personal observation of the sagacity displayed by woodcocks 

 whilst engaged in the natural act of self-preservation, for the 

 reason that the facts which would be read with great interest 

 by men who know what woodcock shooting is, might probably 

 not command the same degree of respect from those who are 

 not conversant with the subject, and whose acquaintance 

 with the woodcock has either been in a poulterer's shop or 

 on the table. 



" How often have I heard the absurd remark, in talking 

 >of a covert, 'Oh yes, it must be capital covert for cocks, it is 

 so full of springs.' What has a cock to do at a spring, 

 ^except in a long and severe frost, when he may be starving 1 

 Like all our land-birds, except a snipe, a woodcock likes to 

 lie dry, and, unless disturbed, remains in his resting-place 

 during the day; towards night flying often to a great dis- 

 tance to his feeding-ground, which generally is open, soft, 

 grassy land, particularly that pastured by cattle, as muddy 

 adjacent ground, springs, or the rivulets flowing from them, 

 .are not the natural feeding-places of a woodcock. 



" In ordinarily open weather a woodcock satisfies himself 



-with, food at his natural feeding-places during the night, 



returning in the morning to his dry resting-place ; but often 



it happens that in very severe frost he is unable to feed 



himself to his satisfaction during the night, and goes about 



during the day also, seeking for some soft grounds into 



which he can poke his beak, which, of course, he does not 



find except at or near a spring; but when he is found trying 



, to feed at a spring during the daytime you will find he is so 



