THE WOODCOCK. 43 



and nests where woodcock used to breed and furnish 

 shooting. 



Again, as woodcock have decreased, the men who shoot 

 have increased, and just so much more should their 

 intelligent protection be enforced. As for summer shoot- 

 ing, it is cruel and wrong, both in theory and practice, 

 and no manner of logic can make it right. 



It is strange that the selfish pleadings of a few should 

 have the power to enact laws permitting summer shoot- 

 ing; or, if enacted in times past, when it seemed folly to 

 be wise, should have sufficient force to overrule all those 

 who would legislate from a higher standpoint, and seek 

 to preserve one of the choicest game birds known. 

 Granting, for the sake of argument, that summer shoot- 

 ing has but little to do with the decrease in the number 

 of woodcock, no one, not even its most zealous advocate, 

 can deny that there is not only a possibility, but a proba- 

 bility, of its having some deleterious effect upon these 

 birds. Why not, then, keep upon the safe side, and for- 

 bid killing woodcock until the season legitimate for field- 

 sports shall arrive. 



After all, what is there in summer shooting to draw 

 one forth? It can not be that they are more easily killed 

 than in autumn, for, although not so swift and strong of 

 wing, their flights are fully as erratic, and the covers, 

 thick with their wealth of leaves, block the aim. 



It can not be the desire for healthful pleasure afield 

 with dog and gun, for a summer day holds no exhilara- 

 tion when the sun shines hot upon pasture-lands that lie 

 dried and withered beneath his scorching rays; when the 

 grass upon new-mown fields is struggling to show a tinge 

 of green; when not a cloud flecks the sultry sky, and the 

 cattle upon the hill-sides stand beneath the friendly shade 

 of wide-spreading trees; when down in the alder-flats, 

 although the sun may not reach the sportsman's path, 



