314 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
districts where moisture and worms are plentiful, but 
they carefully avoid sour meadows and thirsty lands. 
They are partial to the banks of streams that meander 
through woods, the sedge-bound bayous so common in 
the South, the sides of meadows at the foot of hills, and 
oozy beds covered with aquatic vegetation. They also 
frequent open woods having a rich alluvial soil, and flat 
lands adjacent to rivers which overflow their banks. 
Cool, shady, moist ground is a favorite resting place in 
sultry weather, especially if a hot breeze is blowing. 
They are often found in places the opposite of each other 
in character, and the arbitrary manner in which they 
change their residences, seemingly without any purpose, 
is puzzling to the sportsman, for where they are abundant 
one day they may be invisible the next, and vice versa. 
Being somewhat indolent in the early part of the sea- 
son and in warm weather, they often wait until a man is 
very close to them before flushing, but when they do 
flush, they rise like a rocket and skim along the tops of 
the trees, only to sink like a lump of lead after flying a 
few yards. This habit of theirs makes shooting them 
rather difficult, as persons have no time to take aim, and 
must therefore be content with snapshots. If they fly in 
partially open ground, a man can afford to take deliber- 
ate aim at them, but he must fire the moment he catches 
sight of themin cover. The best dogs for woodcock work 
are Cocker spaniels, as they can penetrate the thickets, 
owing to their small size and thick coat, and being slow, 
one can easily keep up with them. If they run mute, a 
bell can be tied to their necks, and that will inform the 
sportsman were they are; and should it cease jingling, it 
isa sign that they have come toa point. Some dogs do 
not at first take kindly to this sort of work, on account, 
it is supposed, of the disagreeable scent of the woodcock, 
but they get over their repugnance after a while if 
they are thoroughbred, though they may always dislike 
