234 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
and sooner or later as they happen to be farther south or 
north; four eggs are the usual number, although occa- 
sionally five may be found. These are about the size of 
the domestic pigeon’s, smooth, of a yellow clay color, and 
prettily marked with irregular patches of puce or brown. 
The young, as soon as hatched, run about like the plover, 
snipe, and the majority of waders, and at the age of four 
weeks are able to fly. The mother-bird, during the infancy 
* of her progeny, is a most attached and solicitous parent, 
frequently permitting herself to be captured rather than 
desert her offspring. What a beautiful example the human 
family may frequently learn from the insignificant inferior 
animals ! 
For shooting woodcock, a sport that nearly all are par- 
tial to, I prefer the setter to the pointer, for the reason that 
the former are better protected by their thick coats from 
the thorns of the briers; again, I have found them less 
liable to become footsore, with a stronger relish for hunt- 
ing through damp and sometimes wet ground; besides, 
they are more easily taught to retrieve, and are, in my be- 
lief, more intelligent. A gentleman who has frequently 
shot with me across the Atlantic, uses with great success a 
pair of cocking spaniels, which answer admirably, and make 
an extremely lively and pretty team, but they are rather too 
quick for a veteran; ten years ago, I should have enjoyed 
nothing better than such companions. One thing I would 
recommend, that for woodcock-shooting your dogs have 
plenty of white in their color, for unless such is the case, 
you will frequently lose a point and shot by walking past 
them, an annoyance to yourself and a disappointment to 
your setter. 
Before concluding, I would call the attention of all good 
and true lovers of the dog and gun to a practice that exists 
in Louisiana, and doubtless elsewhere, of killing woodcock 
