172 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
The only way to verify the facts satisfactorily, would be to mark 
down, in the daily return of game killed, the number of old birds 
in proportion to young, and to ascertain the sex of the former 
by dissection. The female bird, it is true, is somewhat the lar¬ 
ger ; but it is not safe to reckon on the eye, or even on the 
scales, for the determination of the sex. By the way, I conceive 
that there must be some error in the printing of Mr. Audubon’s 
statement concerning this relative disproportion. He states the 
weight of the male bird at 6{ oz., which appears to me, beyond 
all question, inadequately low,—and that of the female, at 8| oz.; 
while in length the female exceeds the male only by of an 
inch. This difference is inconceivable, not to say impossible. 
The understatement of the male Woodcock’s weight struck me 
at first sight ; and I endeavored to account for it to myself, by 
supposing that Summer Cock had been assumed as the base of 
calculation. I presume now , that 6} oz. is a typographical er¬ 
ror for 8}; which I should have stated, if asked suddenly, as 
about the average weight of a full-grown Woodcock. The bird 
from which the accompanying wood-cut was taken, shot by my¬ 
self on the 23d of October, 1843, weighed 9y oz., measured 13 
mches from bill to claw, and 18 from wing to wing extended ; 
but this was an uncommonly large bird. I have, however, 
heard of their being killed up to 11 oz. Once for all, it appears 
to me that Mr. Audubon understates the weight of his game 
birds generally. The coming season I will carry a small scale 
in my jacket pocket, and would earnestly urge it on every 
sportsman to do the same. They can be obtained at any tackle 
shop, and will weigh up to 10 or 12 lbs., being as portable as a 
common pencil-case. 
A few years since—I think it was in 1841—there was a deep 
fall of snow, covering the greater part of the State of New York, 
near eighteen inches deep, so late as the 12th or 15th of May 
It thawed, of course, immediately, and produced a complete in¬ 
undation, the early spring having been rather uncommonly dry. 
From this I augured ill for the prospects of the shooting season 
But fine weather followed, and by most persons the Spring sno^ 
storm and freshet were forgotten. 
