Oc?T. 38, 1886.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



267 



GAME PRESERVING IN BRITAIN. 



IV. — THE GAME OF THE "WOODS. — CONTUnjED. 



WoodcocJc. 



IN the v/oodcock we have a game bird wliich American 

 sportsmen are fortunate enough to number in their 

 list of birds of sport and which no doubt tliey are able to 

 aijpreciate as much as we do upon this side of the A tlan- 

 tic. The wooLlcock {Scolopax nisiieola) of Britain is also 

 the woodcock of America -and of almost eveiy other 

 country under the sun which does not rejoice in a ti'opi- 

 cal chmate, In Europe it is met with from Nor^\-ay to 

 Italy, frouj Russia to Spain in more o]' less plentitude and 

 at various seasons of the year, but as far as Britain is con- 

 cerned, its status as a game bird puts it on a very differ- 

 ent footing from those it holds in most other countries of 

 tills continent. Being so well known and so highly ap- 

 preciated in America tliere is no necessity for me to go so 

 closely into details of tlie bird's natural Jiistory as I nave 

 done in the cases of our partridge, pheasants, etc., so that 

 I will content myself with a few notes upon some of the 

 pouits in connection with the woodcock as a game bird 

 in these islands. 



As a rule woodcock do not breed with us, but the ex- 

 ceptions wliich prove this rule are so very numerous that 

 we have eveiy season a very large and,'l am iucHned to 

 think, annually increasing head of birds which nest here. 

 Upon one pomt there is no doubt, that point is that of 

 late years, din-ing the last twenty or thii-ty years, a much 

 larger number of woodcock have nested here. Why this 

 is would be difScult, if not impossible, to prove, we can 

 only hold conjectm-e upon the subject. The only reason 

 I can offer tliat might bear upon it is tliat nowadays the 

 sporting instinct has so much pervaded the nations of 

 the continent, that their woods and forests, erstwhile mi- 

 distui'bed, are now much less so. Moreover the numbers 

 of British sportsmen who go upon the continent for sport 

 have gTeatly iucreased, and what with the march of civil- 

 ization and'the aforesaid causes, the woodcock which nest 

 here find instinctively that tlie closely preserved coverts 

 and woods of Britain afford much more secure and quiet 

 nurseries than many of the birds' previous continijntal 

 haunts. It has also^been mooted that the great iucrease 

 of quiet, A\'ell-placed lir plantations much suited to Avood- 

 cock tastes luas also borne considerable influence in the 

 direction suggested. Of coiu'se the number of these birds 

 nesting here is at best small, still it is a factor of inter- 

 est. Of coru-se during such time they are strictly pro- 

 tected, both by our bh"d act and by the sporting fratern- 

 ity. 



Woodcock commence nesting very early with us, usu- 

 ally between the 15th of February and the lSth of March, 

 and by the end of another moTitli's time the process of in- 

 cubation is generally well in hand, so that May witnesses 

 the api^earance of the yoxmg bu-ds. Woodcock here nearly 

 always hatch off a second brood in July and August; 

 whether eacli pair of birds does so or not I am not "pre- 

 pared to say, anyhow, there is a nesting of woodcocks in 

 the summer months named, and it is almost held to be 

 the rule for each pair to produce a second brood. The 

 position of the nest is invariably well chosen, the favorite 

 haunts ai^pearing to be new plantations of firs and larch, 

 where the undergrowth is thick, the surface la-okeu and 

 the ground drj. It is enth-ely composed of dead leaves, 

 and generally situated in some tuft of sedge grass or 

 similar ground growth. The woodcock is monogamous, 

 the young usually fom- in nirmber, and tlio male i^arent 

 attends assiduously during the three weeks required for 

 incubation. After the young are born a very interesting 

 nai.itu'al trait is exhibited by the birds. Altliongh the 

 woodcock finds its food in mires and boggy groimcl, still 

 its nest is always at some distance from such, consequently 

 either Maliomet has to be brought to the mountaia or vice 

 versa. In this case it is practically the latter, for the par- 

 ent birds carry their young to and from the feeding 

 grounds. Anybody who thinks for a moment will recog- 

 nize what a labor this must be to a bird of the woodcock's 

 peculiar formation. 



As soon as our liome-reared birds are old enough and 

 able they migrate to foreign chmes, returning again 

 possiljly vi'itli tiie great bulk of om- woodcock which 

 comes to our shores later in the season, but iipon this 

 point it is very difiicult to speak. The migrations of most 

 birds of passage are always more or lees "of an enigma, 

 but those of the woodcock appear particularly difficult of 

 solution. All we seem able to learn concerning them is 

 thai: they take place at certaiu periods. It is from the 

 beginning of October to the end of November and begin- 

 ning of DGcember— speaking roughly — that we receive 

 our cliief immigrations of woodcock, and these, v»-e know, 

 come mostly if not entirelv from Norway and Sweden, 

 although, curiously enough, the birds seenr to reach om- 

 southern, but more particularly our western shores first, 

 the females uivariably j)receding the males in time of ar- 

 rival. It is generally held that the phase of the moon 

 bears great influence upon the time of arrival of the 

 flights, but after careful observation I am fain to believe 

 that the direction and force of wind exercises much more. 

 Apropos of the arrival of the bu'ds upon the western parts 

 of these islands first, is it not probable that the tendency 

 of the bu-ds is to go to the westward and that the later 

 arrivals are compelled to forego the choice of position 

 ah-eady secured by then- earlier arriving congeners? 

 _ Woodcock ariiA'ing here do not come ia large flights 

 like plover and I believe also, snipe, but di'op in in two 

 and threes, as if they were coming not in a collective 

 mass but in a long, kregular line of birds, just as a de- 

 feated army miglit come straggling into a town. Imme- 

 diately the woodcock arrive they exhibit a very poor 

 condition, often a quite emaciated frame, full evidence 

 of the severity of their jommey and proof of their powers 

 of endiu-ance. Forty-eight 'hom-s, however, serve to 

 "puR them together," in fact less. I have seen a flight of 

 woodcock come in on Saturday evening, and shot among 

 them on Monday without killing a single bird at all out 

 of condition. 



The haunts -of the woodcock here are of very varied 

 chai-acter, although always possessing certaiu distinctive 

 featm-es which appear to carry great influence with the 

 bh-ds m choice of station. It often happens, therefore, 

 that you find woodcock in one particular covei-t, bearing 

 to tJie uneducated eye identical aspect and merits with 

 another in its close vicinity, which, on the other hand, 

 never holds a bird. Woodcock evidently prefer thick! 

 irregTilar covens of young and A'arious trees, rough of 

 surface, closely but in broken fashion, overgi-owu'^with 

 sedge, heather and other wild waste verdure, where the 



owned by the two Berlin gentlemen, and supplied with 

 full outfit for a month's cruise. 



ground is wrinkled with the little water courses running I Wisconsin.— A hunting party consisting of G. B. 

 from plentiful springs, and soaked and sodden where the I Sacket and De Witt Palmeter of Berlin, and W. Pipher, 

 water is held back by the natural formation of the ground. I T. Riunsey and Horace Silsby of Seneca Falls. N, Y., 

 These are, speaking generally, the most noticeable i passed thi-ough Oshkosh recently on their way to Lake 

 features of what we regard as good " 'cock gi-ound"' in Poygan. They were on their pleasure yacht Lam-a May, 



Britain. Of course we get woodcock in widely different ■< - ^ - - , 



localities. We get them on any rough highland ground 

 which can lay claim to be called a covert. We find them 

 aroimd the hedges and ditches of our well-wooded farm 

 districts. We get them upon the hillside where oak-cop- 

 pice holds its various aged sway, sometimes in the mh-es 

 of our moors; in fact, anywhere which beai'd the least 

 resemblance to the description of country just described. 

 Holly, juniper, oak find fir appear to possess the chief 

 charm for these long-billed gentry, and if a cook is to be 

 found in a covert it will probably be not far from any 

 existing specimen of the two flLrst named trees or bushes. 

 They are very fond, too, of affecting any patches of 

 charred grotmd which may have been produced by 

 heather-burning. No bird has such a name for fixing oil 

 and frequenting certain "favorite spots" m the woods or 

 coverts. There are abvays-a certain number of such likely 

 places known upon every sporting estate, and where the 

 cock come in. These spots are sm-e to hold a woodcoclc, 

 and what is not altogether unworthy of note, if you kill 

 tlie frequenter for the time being of one such spot, there 

 is sm-e to be another bird which will have secured the 

 favored corner by the next day. There used to be a hol- 

 low tree by the river in some coverts I used to shoot over 

 some years ago which rarely, if ever, failed to supply its 

 bird two or three days runntug while the flight was in. 



Of course you must bear in mind that the amomit of 

 preservation to Avhich we can submit woodcock in this 

 country is of very limited nature. Fhst of all, we only 

 have them with us in any number for fom- months or so 

 dm-ing the year, and during that time is our woodcock 

 season. Moreover, as far as the merits of the case go, that 

 period is the actual one when woodcock should be shot, 

 if shot at all. We cannot breed these game bu-ds as we 

 would parti'idges or pJieasants; aU that we can do for 

 them is to lend our best aid to the small percentage of 

 woodcock nestmg here, protect them from vermin and 

 distm-bance, and do the same for the large quantities 

 which reach us in October and onward, except during 

 such time as we are among them with gun, dog and 

 beaters for sport. 



Perhaps before closing this paper I maj' be allowed to 

 make one or two observations concerning certain things 

 which I read of in Forest and Stkeam in connection with 

 summer shooting of woodcock in America. Such practice 

 api)ears to sportsmen here as being almost incredible. 

 Surely at such season no true sportsman would kill wood- 

 cock, wMle from an economic point of it looks to me 

 a suicidal policy, as far as concerns woodcock shooting. 

 There is no doubt that, if persevered in, it would eventu- 

 ally drive the woodcock from yoiu- Eastern shores. 



MOORMi.N. 



Enolanu, Oct. 8. 



Clinton, Ma.ss., Oct. 31.— The Clinton Sportsmen's Club 

 had their field day the first day of this week and this 

 evening hrid their annual supper. The sides were mar- 

 sliale'l l>y Henry A. Burdett and Charles E. Shaw. The 

 game was counted as follows: Red squirrels 5, mmk 50, 

 wild ducks 25, gray squm-els 25, fox 100, partridges 25, 

 muskrats 15, coons'lOO, crows 15, quail 35, gray rabbit 15, 

 bluejays 5, hawks 15, white rabbit 35, woodcock 33, owl 

 15, wild pigeons 15, wood ducks 10, wild geese 75, The 

 nuniber of points each scored Avas as follows: 



CfiptHABiirdett 50 



Chas 11 Laselle ?M 



Henry W Welch 125 



Capt C E Shaw 285 



Frank WGoss 4U 



Frank Hammond 100 



A GLarkin 340 



Truell and Hartshorn 540 



WAGibbs 135 



Morse and Bro^\Ti 220 



Chas A Kabley 5 



Bailey and Ehvoi-d 1130 



Total 2'J95 



(Jumilngham and Tufts 175 



JDMissroon 25 



W vV Cameron 105 



Abijah Brown 150 



E A \VoodAvard 35 



Hamilton, Avery and Goss. 100 



G W GosB 375 



W P Bowers 195 



Total 1780 



The game captured by each follows: Capt. Burdett's 

 side— Coons 3, muskrats' 6, gray rabbits 7, gray squirrels 

 27. red sq-airrels 45, bluejays 10, crows 2, partridges 11. 

 wild pigeon 1, woodcock 3, duck 1. Capt. Shaw's side- 

 Coons 3, partridges IG, red sciuirrels 4G, gray squirrels 43, 

 hawks 3, woodcock 3, gray rabbits 49, muskrats 4, blue- 

 jays 4, crows 5. It was understood that the hunt was to 

 be a sti-ictly honest one; that markets and professional 

 sportsmen were not to be called upon to aid either side in 

 getting game that the score might run up to a column of 

 fig-ures, but the result has occasioned not a little kicking 

 on the pai-t of the losing side, and intimations are not 

 lacking to the effect that the winners de]Dended upon other 

 than their own skill for then- game. This imputation is 

 resented. A cut-eared coon, l3rought in by the Avinners. 

 was declared by the losers to be questionable game, the 

 slits m the ears demonstrating such to be the case. It was 

 stated in explanation that in the vicinity where the coon 

 was shot there were barbed wire fences.'and that his coon- 

 sliip in trying to get away from the htinters got tangled 

 up in that fence and that the barbs pierced the animafs 

 ears. This explanation, while not wholly satisfactory, was 

 received with cheers. 



Quail in a City.— Richmond, Ind., Oct. 20.— In last 

 week's issue I see that a bevy of quail have taken up 

 then- abode in the streets of Hartford, Conn. We have a 

 similar case in this city. They are about two squares 

 from my house and are seen every day. They are quite 

 tame. Game was never so plentiful in this section as it 

 is this fall, squirrels especially. Quail are more plenti- 

 ful than for years. One bag of seventeen woodcock is re- 

 ported, but I think it was "stretched." And to quote 

 from a daily, "AU Richmond seems to be htmting or fish- 

 ing. ' '—Plover. 



Pulling a Gun From a Boat.— Plymouth, Mass., Oct. 

 16.— Geo. A. Chappen, of Boston, while ptdlmg a gun 

 from a boat at Manomet this morning, shot his arm oft'. 

 The limb was amputated at the shoulder. The loss of 

 blood is veiy gxeat and fears are entertained for his life. 



New Jersey Robin Shooters make big pot-shots at 

 the flocks of robins which gather at some of the great 

 vineyards to eat grapes. 



Central Lake, Mich., Oct. 17.— Wild geese moving 

 south —Kelpie. 



"That reminds me." 

 193. 



WHILE in Mississippi many years ago and enjoying 

 with all a sportsmans ardor the rich hunting af- 

 forded me in the dense canebrakes, I made this discovery 

 in regard to the wild hog. Upon the whole front of an 

 old boar and covering liim from the head back to within 

 three inches of his j)ipes, there grows a shield I will call 

 it — a tough gristle just tmder the skin, resisting the knife 

 and even large shot, evidently designed by nature as a 

 defense and protection. If it were not for this, no two of 

 these fierce fighters would ever meet without one or both 

 being killed. It covers all the shoulders and sides — ^and. 

 just upon the shoulders and forelegs, even a common 

 rifle ball cannot penetrate it. I would rather face the 

 fiercest panther or wolf or bear than an old boar in his 

 anger. He is the most dangerous animal in the Mississ- 

 ippi bottoms or swamps. A Mr. — , I do not now recall 

 his name — a fool-hardy specimen of those always 

 courageous hunters, rode into the cane to find a gang of 

 hogs and hearing them coming turned and went out. But 

 just as he cleared the swamp and was in the open wood, 

 the boar that led the gang broke out of the cover, and be- 

 fore the man coifld turn his horse charged straight upon 

 him, and with one thrust from his powerful head drove 

 the sharp tusks full into his horse's belly, and with one 

 jump the poor biatte fell and died in a few minutes— com- 

 pletely disembowelled, the man himself with the boar 

 close upon him, ran to a tree, but was so closely pressed 

 he had no time to climb. He was only saved by his com- 

 panions w]io came up just in time to*^ shoot the monster 

 by a weU-dh-ected aim square in his head. And now 

 comes this curious thing about the shield mentioned 

 above. It (the shield) remained just where the boar fell 

 attached to the head with its gleaming white tiisks — ^for 

 over two years — not oifly undecayed but keeping its shape 

 while aU the rest of the" animals was gone. 



If not taking too much space I wotfld Hke to tell an 

 incident of another kind. A Misso-arian who lived upon 

 the edge of a iprau-ie — Andrew Roby by name, a tall, 

 powerftfl man, discovered two large black wolves feeding 

 upon a dead cow— and being well mounted concluded he 

 would nm one down. Riding up he separated them and 

 taking after the largest he soon catight it, it being of full 

 beUy. Roby coolly dismounted and'as the wolf tuckered 

 out with his nm lay down in the grass, he unloosed his 

 stiriaip. a large-three pound non one, and winduig the 

 strap around liis hand, walked slowly up to the snarling 

 brute. Swmging the iron around and over liis head, he 

 made a leap and stmck heavily with the stirrup, but not 

 calculating upon the slippery grass, he fell fuU length 

 directly upon the wolf v>diich was as much astonished as 

 he was. Considerably bitten but not hurt he gathered 

 himself in a htm-y, thinking he must have been lying on 

 that wolf about an horn-, but probably it was not quite so 

 long, for when he did get up the grass was still falling in 

 clouds that he had kicked up in his eftort to get off the 

 wolf. He soon recovered liimselE and by a well-directed 

 blow broke the brute's hip and another swing of the 

 heavy iron from his powerful arm finished it, H. B. S. 

 Mabxetta, O. _________________ 



194. 



Three of us set out for bass. Once in the boat we found 

 om-selves upon a beautiful sheet of water, the most tx-ans- 

 parent I ever saw. There Avere three other boats, evi- 

 dently occupied by farmers from the immediate vicinity, 

 as we could see no camp of others. They were supplied 

 with poles to which they tied long lines, using strips cut 

 from a pickerers belly 'for bait. They laugiied at our 

 "new tangled" way, as they termed it,'but v."e told them 

 that we would sho^v them how to catch fish. We were 

 shortly all at Avork, but not a strike did we get on flies or 

 spoon, although we resorted to every device^ that we had 

 ever heard of, but to no avail. At noon, as the others, 

 who had been working around close to shore, ran past us 

 on then- way to dinner, they hafled us with the tisual 

 " Wliat luck?" We did not give a very direct answer, and 

 to tease us they held up a bass of about 31bs., asking if we 

 had got anytMng like it; and then one of Slbs., and°lastly 

 a 41bs. fish, accompanied with the same question. We 

 gazed at the fish in perfect amazement; they looked like 

 whales compared with the two ptmy things we had caught 

 and throvv n back. As we started for the shore I rose 

 standing in the stern of the boat, telling the bovs that I 

 beheved that we could catch them by skittering with a 

 spoon. Will was seated in the bow looking into the water; 

 all at once he exclaimed, "Great guns, see that bass!" at 

 the same time pointing over the same side of the boat I 

 was holding my rod. I leaned over as far as I could, and 

 had just caught a glimpse of a large bass on the grav- 

 elly bottom working his fins, when there came a 

 sudden jerk and a splash, and before I realized 

 it I was going into the lake head fii-st. I 

 dropped my rod and caught the side of the boat 

 and climbed in. Then I reeled in a beautiful 4flb3. bass. 

 Before we had him fairly landed I told the bovs it was my 

 first bass. They said they gTiessed I "had the- hang of the 

 thing," and then they laughed about a little fish pulling 

 me into the water. The next night Will and West set out 

 with some farmers' boys to set a night outline. They 

 said they thought I had better stay in camp, for some 

 little fish might drag me into the lake. At ten o'clock I 

 knew by their loud shouts that they were getting plenty 

 of fish. Just as they were getting a large eel intoihe boat 

 he escaped from the hook and glided around the boat at a 

 great late; tlie boys in trying to stamp him with their 

 feet, knocked off one of the bottom boards. They shouted 

 lustdy for help and cried that thev were drowning, I 

 took a lantern, ran along the shore" and fotmd WiU just 

 dragging his drenched form up the bank, while West sat 

 perched upon an old tree top about twenty feet from 

 shore. I have never since heard anything about "havino- 

 the hang o' the thing," h. W, B, 



BiNGHAMXON, N. B. 



