318 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



past two or three years they seem to have been rapidly 

 increasing, a result, no doubt, of their protection in 

 summer over most of the country. 



It is interesting to recall the days of woodcock shoot- 

 ing a generation ago and to compare their results with 

 those of recent times. For the past few years many 

 a gunner who devoted a week or ten days to faithful 

 tramping and shooting in eastern covers has thought 

 himself fortunate if in that time he killed three or 

 four woodcock. An item published in Forest and 

 Stream in 1874 speaks of three gunners who went out 

 early in the summer season and in one day killed sixty- 

 four woodcock. Twenty, twenty-five and thirty a day 

 were ordinary records for a single gun, and in No- 

 vember, 1876, we recall an account by a friend of a 

 day's shooting which yielded him twenty-six woodcock 

 besides a less number of partridges and quail. 



