156 lewis' ameeican spoetsman. 



the long and slender bill, variegated plumage, tapering legs, 

 and large, mellow black eyes of each innocent victim, before 

 consigning him to the game-bag, and even exhibit more than 

 ordinary care in smoothing down and arranging his ruffled and 

 bloody feathers. 



"We, with the rest of Shooters, both American and English, 

 are quite an admirer of this Bird, and derive more satisfaction 

 from killing a few couples of them than we do in the slaughter 

 of a multitude of Rails, or a fair proportion of Partridges. Why 

 we have this feeling we will not pretend to explain ; but we 

 know that we have it, and have noticed it in others ; and have 

 more than once watched, with some degree of astonishment, 

 the eagerness with which most of our friends seek to bring 

 down a solitary AYoodcock that perchance is seen to flutter 

 across their path when in pursuit of other game, and, if suc- 

 cessful, they always evince more self-satisfaction than if they 

 had bagged two or three brace of Partridges. In England, 

 where these Birds are much less plentiful than they are with 

 us, " Cock Shooting'^ is highly prized, and, in fact, is considered 

 by many as the ^'■Fox Hunting''' of shooting; while all lovers of 

 the Dog and Gun regard a good day's Woodcock shooting as 

 the very ne plus ultra of sport; and Watts, in his versification 

 of field sports, thus cautions the anxious Shooter when in quest 

 of this game : — 



" Have patience ; recollect my words: 

 A couple of these precious Birds 

 Yield more delight to Sportsmen true 

 Than any other game can do." 



These doggerel lines, though they do not in themselves make 

 any great pretensions to the chaste harmony of poesy, are still 

 sufiiciently expressive to show the estimation of this Bird in 

 the eyes of the English gentry. 



THE NOMENCLATURE OF THE WOODCOCK. 



The nomenclature of the Woodcock, like that of most other 

 of our Game Birds, is somewhat confused, being known in va- 

 rious sections of our country under the different appellations of 

 Mud Snipe, Blind Snipe, Big-headed Snipe, Marsh Plover, and 



