Middlesex Co., Mass. [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1874.
nearly all our birds at the first 
rise but late in the afternoon the
setting sun shining into our eyes 
caused several bad muffs as at that
time the gun barrels reflected a 
perfect flood of light when raised
to the shoulder. The woodcock as a
rule rose rather lazily but many 
of them flew a surprising distance.
One very large bird which we
had put up several times without
getting a shot at, was at length driven
out to me by M. [James C. Melvin] and gave me
a good cross shot at 20 yds but
owing to the dazzling sunlight above
mentioned I was unable to see him
at all upon raising my gun &
consequently missed clean with
both barrels. Being in a good position
to mark him I saw him pass high
over a large tract of birches where
we had first found him & then whirling
[delete]up[/delete]over a tall oak grove I just
caught a glympse of his wings as he
dropped in an open beyond at least 
500 yds from the spot where I stood.
Following him up I got a fine point
from Shot and flushing him killed
him cleanly at 25 yds. With the 
exception of two all the birds that
we started were on birch hillsides
and as a rule on the very outskirts
of the thickets. They averaged quite
large in size and in every instance
whistled as they rose. Melvin has