CONTENTS. XXI 



PAGE 



Their Nests; number of Eggs — The young Birds — The Prairie Hen easily 

 domesticated— Audubon's domestication of sixty Birds — Their habits dur- 

 inff confinement — One brood each season — Their Enemies — Artifices to 

 protect their Young — Their Food at different seasons — No disposition to 

 Migrate — Their antipathy to -water — Necessity of carrying water for the 

 Dogs — Flight — Their habits -when pursued — Feeding — Fioosting on the 

 ground — Their Flesh, as compared with the Pheasant — Other varieties 

 in the States — Time of Hunting them, &c. — Memoranda. . . . 14G 



CHAPTER X. 



The Woodcock — The claims of the Woodcock — Eagerness of Sportsmen in 

 pursuing this Bird — The delight of Sportsmen when examining a Wood- 

 cock — How prized in England — Considered the Fox Hunting of Shooting 

 — The Nomenclature — How yarious and confused — Description — Com- 

 pared with the English variety — Their size, weight, &c. — The largest ever 

 shot — Uncommon large one sent a friend — The plumage of the American 

 and English Bird — Superiority of the flesh of the American Bird — One 

 Species only in the States — The Female much h.rgcr than the Male — Their 

 Habits — A Migratory Bird — Extent of their journeyings — Where they 

 Breed — When they go South — Some remain North in the Winter — Their 

 movements in the Spring — The formation of the Head — How remarkable — 

 Their large and beautiful Ejcs — Incapable of supporting a glare of light 

 — Instances of imperfect vision in full day — Their habits at night — Feed- 

 ing at the South — Ignorance of country people of this Bird — Food — 

 Erroneous opinions regarding their mode of Feeding — Feeding of the 

 European Bird — Full description of those feeding in the Aviary of St. 

 Ildephonso — The nervous system of the Bill of the Woodcock — Their 

 Voracity — How fed in Captivity — Their Voracity the cause of their unsocial 

 Habits — Incubation — The young Birds — Singular Manoeuvres at this sea- 

 son — The conveyance of their Young on their Backs — Two Broods — Frank 

 Forrester's Opinion — Time for Shooting — Their slaughter in July — Argu- 

 ments against this custom — The Game Laws a mere hagaielle — Ignorance 

 of Legislation — Change proposed — Ingenuity to conceal her Young — Where 

 to find Cocks — Under various circumstances of the weather — Not found in 

 Swamps of the Iron Districts — Woodcocks abundant in Jersey and Dela- 

 ware — The excessive heat an objection to July Shooting — The spoiling of 

 the Birds — Remarks of Mr. Skinner ; condemnatory of the ambition to kill 

 for quantity — Temptations for hunting Woodcocks in July — Benefits to be 

 derived from having Birds, Squirrels, &c., in the Public Squares — Disap- 

 pearance of AVoodcocks during the Moulting Season in August and Septem- 

 ber — Various opinions on this subject — Where to find them at such times 

 — Other reasons for their scarcity at this time — Flight of these Birds — Fire- 

 hunting of Cocks — How practised in Louisiana — Described by T. B. Thorpe, 

 Esq. — Somewhat similar to English " Bird-battings" — Nets and Snares — 

 Some peculiarities while Feeding — Abundant in Ireland — How hunted 

 there — Dogs for Cock Shooting — Barbarous custom of shooting them in 



