I02 WILDFOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



fact. The youngsters, boys and girls, were, as their 

 parents called them, " reg'lar dabsters " at it. All 

 the moist runs on that large waste were covered 

 with little gates, having gaps in the centre for the 

 horse-hair noose. Each one knew his or her teals, 

 and if theirs were empty and their neighbours' had 

 caught, they left them there for their neighbours 

 to take out. The folks were simple and honest, 

 the unwritten laws of the forest were never broken, 

 for good reasons. Very great prejudice exists in 

 certain localities regarding the Scolopacida, the 

 family of birds that the Woodcock stands at the 

 head of. 



" They gits their living out o' the bogs, sucks it 

 out on 'em ; and they ain't a-goin' down our giz- 

 zards, not if they knows it ; other folks may get 'em 

 down if they like : " meaning that nothing would 

 persuade them to eat such unclean feeders. This 

 notion no doubt proceeds from the birds not lifting 

 up their heads to swallow what they probe for. At 

 the same time they will partake of a duck or a 

 couple that they have just caught up and killed as 

 they were dabbling and spattering in a dirty drain, 

 which is by no means so clean as a moor bog or 

 runnel. It is the same with fish. " Don't like the 

 look on 'em, an' shan't eat 'em," although these may 

 have been brook fish that were in question ; yet 

 they would put themselves to no small trouble to 

 capture eels. 



But the money that the cocks brought them in 

 the season got the children shoes, and a few clothes 



