116 FEATHERED GAME 
be remembered that sportsmen are only hu- 
man)—some sportsmen tell us that they have 
often shot woodcocks in the mountain bogs at 
this season, when no birds could be found in 
their usual haunts in the lowlands. Game laws 
were then almost unheard of or at best only 
honored in the breach by the larger body of the 
shooting population, and men’s consciences per- 
mitted them to kill woodcocks in July and Au- 
gust! The birds wander back into their former 
homes generally in time to assist in the proper 
celebration of the opening day of the season, 
though sometimes waiting for the first ‘‘cold 
snap’’ to stir them out. 
The more I hunt them the more firmly I am 
convinced that our long-billed friends are 
‘“‘mighty onsartin.’’ They may be found at 
any time in the most unlikely and unheard-of 
place. I frequently find them on the top of a 
barren ledge whose only covering is low juni- 
per bushes. I often cross this ridge in my par- 
tridge shooting: (it lies between two of my fav- 
orite grouse patches), and seldom fails to dis- 
turb at least one or two ’cocks here each time. 
Probably they are only digesting their meals. 
But who is this gray-bearded, wild-looking 
