310 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



a variety of ferns, and many other moisture-loving 

 plants, grow in wild luxuriance. These runs, or 

 swales, are often so narrow that the best way to hunt 

 them, if two are shooting together, is for each to take 

 a side and let the dog work between them. The 

 birds, when started, will either show themselves above 

 the alders, or, what is more likely, will break out on 

 one side or the other, and fly forward along the edge 

 of the bushes, giving a perfectly open shot and one 

 which not even a tyro ought to miss. In working out 

 such places the bell should be put on the dog, for it 

 is often so dark beneath the thick growth that it is 

 difficult to see him. Should he come to a point, and 

 the bird decline to rise, a heavy stick or stone thrown 

 into the bushes just in front of him will often flush it. 



One of the most instructive articles on woodcock 

 shooting ever written is from the pen of Mr. B. Wa- 

 ters and was published in Forest and Stream in the year 

 1903. I am glad to be able to reproduce it with a few 

 minor changes in these pages. 



Of all the kinds of shooting of field and forest the 

 sport of woodcock shooting holds the warmest place 

 in the hearts of its devotees. The woodcock shooter 

 is an enthusiast of enthusiasts. He may take a keen 

 pleasure in bringing other game birds to bag, but when 

 woodcock shooting is under consideration comparison 

 ceases. And indeed this sport possesses many fas- 

 cinating features peculiar to itself. First of all, it can 

 at best be indulged in only in very small quantities. 

 There is but little of it when compared with the abun- 



