432 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



bamb.oozle the sportsman. If they arrive in any given lo- 

 cality to-day, they are thoroughly acquainted to-morrow 

 with the best feeding-grounds in those parts ; and you will 

 not catch them wasting time and wing-labor in any circuitous 

 flights thitherward. How did they know where the best 

 grounds were ? By what process of thinking did they ar- 

 rive at the fact that Marsh A contains tnore delectable 

 waterpools, more penetrable mud and fatter and longer 

 worms than Marsh B, both being contiguous to their adopted 

 woods and covers, and both of them equally as promising to 

 eyes less searching than a Woodcock's ? Why, also, does he 

 fly direct and in a straight line to them, never varying his 

 direction more than twenty yards, even when disturbed or 

 frightened ? " 



Not one among all our game birds is there that is so ca- 

 pricious as the Woodcock, and the sportsman must be some- 

 what of a naturalist to hunt it with success. To-day it may be 

 found only in the deepest recesses of the swamp ; to-morrow 

 it is quietly lying in a dry and sheltered spot on the sunny 

 hillside among the birches and blackberry bushes ; on the 

 day following it may be concealed in a clump of alders in 

 the middle of a meadow, or it may be hiding in an ever- 

 green forest or cornfield. 



It is also fickle in its habits, now being as swift of wing 

 as a flash of light, anon being the veriest sluggard ; some- 

 times it is flushed without difficulty, again it lies so close 

 after pitching that the best dogs will pass it by, and will 

 spring up only when almost kicked out of its cover. 



Ordinarily one must be a quick and sure shot to bag the 

 autumn bird, for it is usually found in thick covert, and the 

 moment it rises above the trees is off and away. One must 

 shoot, if possible, before the bird attains the height of the 

 trees, and snap-shots are the rale in such cases if the foli- 

 age is very thick. 



In my own shooting I usually wait until the bird has at- 

 tained the full ascent and is just on the point of darting 



