84 TO TAKE WOODCOCKS BY DRAW-NETS, ETC. 



chickens, they will so besmear and daub each other, that 

 very few will escape. 



This way of taking partridges is only to be used in 

 stubble fields, from August till Christmas : but if you 

 wish to take them in woods, pastures, or meadows, then 

 you must lime rods, as mentioned for pheasants, and 

 stick them in the ground after the same manner. 



TO TAKE WOODCOCKS BY DRAW-NETS, ETC. 



WOODCOCKS seldom, if ever, fly in the day-time, 

 unless forced to it by man or beast, and then they retire 

 into thick woods, where there are void spaces, covered 

 on all sides, in which they remain the whole day, 

 searching for earth-worms under the leaves, &c. When 

 night comes, they go out of the woods in quest of water, 

 where they may drink and wash their bills, which they 

 have fouled by thrusting into the earth ; and having 

 passed the night in meadows, as soon as the day begins 

 to appear, they take their flight to the woods. In their 

 flight they use shady places, and coast it along a great 

 way in search of the tallest woods, that thev may be 

 the more concealed, and be more under cover from the 

 wind. They always fly low, till they find some glade 

 to go across, nor dare to fly among trees, because, like 

 hares, they cannot see well before them, for which 

 reason they are easily taken with nets spread along 

 the forest, or in the glades. Draw-nets are very pro- 



