124 WARWICK WOODLANDS. 



"But, seriously," said the Commodore, "seriously, would 

 you indeed abolish summer shooting?" 



"Most seriously! most solemnly I would!" Archer re- 

 sponded. "In the first place because, as I have said, it is 

 a perfect sin to shoot cock in July ; and secondly, because 

 no one would, I am convinced, shoot for his own pleasure 

 at that season, if it were not a question of now or never. 

 Between the intense heat, and the swarms of musquitoes, 

 and the unfitness of that season for the dogs, which can 

 rarely scent their game half the proper distance, and the 

 density of the leafy coverts; and lastly, the difficulty of 

 keeping the game fresh till you can use it, render July 

 shooting a toil, in my opinion, rather than a real pleas- 

 ure; although we are such hunting creatures, that rather 

 than not have our prey at all, we will pursue it in all 

 times, and through all inconveniences. Fancy, my dear 

 fellows, only fancy what superb shooting we should have 

 if not a bird were killed till they were all full grown, and 

 fit to kill; fancy bagging a hundred and twenty-five fall 

 woodcock in a single autumn day, as we did this very 

 year on a summer's day!" 



"Oh! I agree with you completely," said Frank Forester, 

 "but I am afraid such a law will never be brought to bear 

 in this country — the very day on which cock shooting does 

 not really begin, but is supposed by nine tenths of the 

 people to begin — the fourth of July is against it.* More- 

 over, the amateur killers of game are so very few, in com- 

 parison with the amateur eaters thereof, that it is all but 

 impossible to enforce the laws at all upon this subject. 

 Woodcock even now are eaten in June — nay, I have heard, 

 and believe it to be true, that many hotels in New York 

 serve them up even in March and April; quail, this 

 autumn, have been sold openly in the markets, many days 

 previous to the expiration of close time. And, in fact, 

 sorry I am to say it, as far as eating-houses are in ques- 

 tion, the game laws are nearly a dead letter. 



"In the country, also, I have universally found it to be 

 the case, that although the penalty of a breach may be 

 exacted from strangers, no farmer will differ with a neigh- 



*In the State of New York close time for woodcock expires on the 

 last day of June — in New Jersey on the fourth of July — leaving the 

 bird lawful prey on the 1st and the 5th, respectively. 



