UPLAND SHOOTING. 
369 
SUMMER WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 
HE wisdom of our game laws has 
decided that Woodcock shall he kill¬ 
ed and taken, by all and sundry, in 
the State of New-York, on and after 
the first, in the State of New Jersey 
on and after the fifth day of July; 
although in the latter State the prac¬ 
tice of the sovereign people has de¬ 
termined that the fourth is the day intended by the enactment, 
and on the fourth, accordingly, the slaughter commences. In 
Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, practice at least, if not law— 
and until recently, if there be now, there was no statute on the 
subject—has prescribed the same, or nearly the same period, 
for the commencement of Cock-shooting; and even in those 
counties of New-York to which the enactment of these game 
laws, such as they are, does not extend, tacit agreement has 
prescribed the same regulation, at least among sportsmen. 
So far, indeed, has this practice been carried, that by means 
of a convention of this sort, the shooting of Woodcock is ta¬ 
booed, until the fourth of July, even in the islands of the Great 
Lakes and the Detroit River. The example was set by the 
officers, I believe, of the American and British garrisons at 
Detroit and Amherstberg, acting in concert, and the practice 
has almost become common law. 
The fact is, therefore, that everywhere through the United 
States and the British Provinces, whether there is or is not anv 
distinct law on the subject, the commencement of July is as 
