90 TO TAKE WOODCOCKS BY DRAW-NETS, ETC. 



pass, as at F G H I ; so that the woodcock, walking in 

 the wood in search of food, and finding this hedgerow, 

 will follow it till he comes to the gap; for he will 

 never fly, and therefore you should fix the string there, 

 opened in a round form, and laid upon the flat ground, 

 supported only by some leaves. The form of the ex- 

 tended snares are represented in the foregoing plate. 



If in walking in the woods you should find nooses, 

 and the like, that are set five or six inches above the 

 ground, such as are denoted by the letters F and G, it 

 is a sign partridges frequent that place, and that persons 

 come to take them. There are those who make little 

 hedgerows of different lengths, and in different num- 

 bers, as they think fit, according to the game they sup- 

 pose the place may afford. 



It has been observed, that woodcocks in the night- 

 time frequent springs and similar places, because they 

 do not freeze ; and those persons who make it their 

 business to catch them, will not forget in the morning 

 to walk along the sides of rivulets, springs, marshes, and 

 ditches, that are under the covert of woods, in order to 

 find out whether any woodcocks had been there the 

 night before ; for they will not fail to return thither if 

 they have been once there before, and therefore snares 

 should be laid for them, as represented above. 



Suppose the oblong square, denoted by the letter H, 

 should be a ditch full of water, frequented by wood- 

 cocks, and that its bank should be that side represented 

 by the figures 2, 3, 4. 



