146 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



The laugh was on Stephen, and the boys guyed him 

 so that he had to own up, but after that event we each 

 kept our guns in sight at pigeon matches. 



It was after this that I bought the pointer Nell from 

 Ken King, the one referred to in former sketches, and 

 King showed us the woodcock grounds on the Albany 

 side of the river, and we shot with him over his dogs and 

 Nell. Sometimes when he was not with us we consulted 

 Mrs. Sheldrick, who was well posted on these matters, 

 and far more communicative than her husband. In her 

 vocabulary "birds" meant woodcock only; all others 

 were spoken of by name. For instance, she would say: 

 "Well, boys, you won't find many birds in the swamps 

 this morning; you might get an odd one up in the corn- 

 field after the rain last night, but you can find plenty o' 

 pigeons in yon wood, an' mebbe some plover on the hill 

 or a few yellow-legs along shore. But birds '11 be scarce 

 to-day." 



Steve was wonderfully good on woodcock, and usual- 

 ly beat us all in bringing down that bird of erratic flight. 

 He used a short gun of twelve-gauge. Just how short 

 the barrels were is more than I would like to say now 

 perhaps twenty inches while my gun was an extra long 

 one of twelve inches more. I once saw him drop five 

 "birds" in succession in a swampy thicket where this 

 swift, dazzling bird would drop out of sight within 

 twenty yards, and this was not an exceptional case. 

 Those who have shot this quick, zigzagging bird in close 

 thickets are the only ones who know just how quick and 

 unruffled a shooter has to be to get a fair proportion of 

 the birds he flushes. They had all learned from Ken 

 King the lesson which I had been taught by Port Tyler 

 in former years, to use small shot in small quantity, with 

 a very light charge of powder, for this kind of shooting 



