236 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



in danger of extinction. Writers on ornithology and sports- 

 manship generally agree in the belief that the Woodcock is 

 diminishing in numbers, particularly near centers of population; 

 but the danger of extirpating it is not now nearly as great as 

 that which menaces several other species of migratory birds; 

 as, owing to the writings of such men as Dr. Elliot and Dr. 

 Fisher, the sportsmen of the United States have moved to 

 secure better protective laws for Woodcock in many States, 

 and this has helped to stay the destruction of the species. 



Summer shooting, which formerly was legalized in many 

 States where the Woodcock bred, almost exterminated the 

 breeding birds in many regions. Winter shooting in the 

 south was very destructive, and still is so in some States. 

 Summer shooting in the north has been given up largely, and 

 the fall shooting season has been so shortened that the birds 

 are holding their own in many localities, and occasionally good 

 fall flights are seen in New England. 



Early in the last century Woodcock are said to have been 

 so plentiful within twenty-five miles of Boston that during 

 the long open season a good shot would average about fifty 

 birds a day; but to one knowing present conditions this 

 seems highly improbable. We have some records, however, 

 which prove that sixty or seventy years ago very large bags 

 were made in summer. Within my own lifetime the breeding 

 Woodcock have been absolutely extirpated from alder swamps 

 and runs which formerly harbored many pairs, but this has 

 been done by excessive August and early September gunning, 

 which is now prohibited. As one result of the shorter open 

 season, Woodcock are now coming back to breed in localities 

 from which they were absent for years. 



The flights of birds from the north have not diminished in 

 number so much as have the native birds. Occasionafly a 

 large flight stops here, as in early November, 1908, when 

 Woodcock were plentiful here, and when some gunners in 

 Connecticut secured from twenty to forty birds each in a day. 

 This flight did not denote such an increase in the number of 

 these birds, however, as generally was believed. The explana- 

 tion is that they all came at once. The birds in Maine and the 



