118 FEATHERED GAME 
has had this particular bird in his mind, watch- 
ing it almost from the egg, protecting it from 
the ‘‘sooner’’ gunner, and looking forward to 
this blissful moment ‘‘even as you and I’’ have 
done each year, my brother of the ‘‘scatter 
gun.’’ 
Steady and swift as it is, his flight lacks the 
dash and headlong rush of the ruffed grouse 
when he bursts through all leafy obstructions 
to his course, nor is it commonly so long ex- 
tended when the bird is flushed unless it has 
been much harassed. Usually he fiutters 
through the interlacing boughs, rises just above 
the tops, dashes a few yards away and drops 
into the brush again. His flight seldom carries 
him out of the cover if it pleases him and con- 
tains plenty of food. 
The Woodcock commonly lies close and fur- 
nishes great sport to the gunner who has a well- 
trained dog. For this game a dog needs a more 
than average good nose, therefore the puppy 
that promises well on Woodcock is apt to stand 
high in his master’s estimation, ranking even 
before that other treasure, his twenty-six-inch- 
barreled ‘‘sprinkle gun,’’ for replacing wood 
