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 Woodcock, 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 W^oodcock 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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