WOODCOCK. 



561 



of a wood, now much out of practice, except in the western counties. 

 Sometimes a net is placed by the side of a hedge, near to a wood, where 

 they are taken either morning- or evening-, as they fly from or to the 

 woods. 



* Woodcocks have for some centuries been in high estimation, and 

 consequently, before the art of shooting flying had made much pro- 

 gress, they were sought for on the ground by the fowler, but by far 

 the greater quantity were taken in nets and springes, both of which 

 are still in partial use, but the former is the most destructive. The 

 glade in a wood is the usual place selected, across which a net is sus- 

 pended by pulleys fixed to opposite trees, and the person attending it is 

 concealed, holding the cord in his hand. When a cock strikes against 

 the net the shock is felt, and the cord instantly let go, by which means 

 the net falls over, and entangles the bird. Sometimes the side of a 

 high hedge, in certain situations, has been fatal to Woodcocks, by 

 means of a net, suspended between a tree in the hedge, and a pole 

 erected at the distance of twenty or thirty feet ; for it is observable 

 that these birds fly low, and under shelter, as much as possible, both 

 going to and coming from their food in the evening and morning, just 

 about dusk. 



Springes, or springers, are usually set in moist places on the verge of 

 woods, especially where the fowler perceives perforations made by the 

 bill of the W T oodcock, termed borings ; or the mutings, called the splash. 

 In such places a common ground springe is formed of an elastic stick, to 

 which is fastened a horse-hair noose, which is put through a hole in a 

 peg, fastened into the ground, to which a trigger is annexed ; and in 

 order to compel the Woodcock to walk into the trap, an extended fence 

 is made on each side, by small sticks, set up close enough to prevent 

 the bird passing between ; these concentre at the trap, so that, in this 

 funnel-shaped fence, the Woodcock, in feeding, is compelled to pass 

 through the narrow passage, and is almost to a certainty caught by 

 the legs. 



The Woodcock is naturally a very shy and retired bird, rarely taking- 

 wing by day, unless disturbed ; but just at the close of day, all, as if 

 by common consent, quit the woods nearly at the same instant, and 

 wander over the meadows in search of splashy places and moist ditches, 

 for food, retiring to their hiding places again just at the dawn of day. 

 Thus, when most other land birds are recruiting exhausted nature by 

 sleep, these are rambling through the dark, directed, by an exquisite 

 sense of smelling, to those places most likely to produce their natural 

 sustenance ; and by a still more exquisite sense of feeling in their long 



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