tTPLAND SHOOTING. 
195 
lands of the Hudson, with the intent of showing the fine view 
thence to a city friend, he found the brushwood on the barren 
and rocky ledges, and even on the crown of the hill, literally 
alive with Woodcock. This occurred, according to his state¬ 
ment, in the beginning of September, when no birds were to 
be found in the level and wet woods below. He farther stated, 
that he at first intended to revisit the hill the next day, with dog 
and gun, in order to profit by his discovery, but was prevented 
doing so by casual circumstances, until the frost had set in 
keenly in the woods. He then climbed the hill, and beat it 
carefully with dogs, without obtaining one point to reward his 
labor; and on the next day found the swamps below full of 
birds. 
Not vouching for the truth of this tale, I tell it as ’twas told 
to me; the teller was a sportsman, and a man of average vera¬ 
city—that is to say, I should have been inclined to believe any 
fact he stated, where I could see no interest, on his part, which 
should lead him to attempt deception. In this case there was 
no such reason; not even the desire of prevailing in argument, 
for we were not arguing. I cannot, therefore, well doubt the 
correctness of his information. 
If truly stated, as I believe it to have been, this fact makes 
somewhat for my former opinion. I have, also, myself, fre¬ 
quently found scattered birds on such hill-tops, and in such 
mountain-swales, while deer-stalking, in August and September, 
though not in numbers which would justify the belief in a 
general migration en masse to such localities. 
If, however, my half-formed opinion—for it is no more—be 
correct, the birds are dispersed at this period of the year, and 
are only to be found, casually, in knots of three or four, and 
never in greater numbers. 
The other, and, on the whole, perhaps more probable sug¬ 
gestion is this: that, after rearing their young, driven by the 
heat of the weather—or, it may be, by the temporary exhaustion 
of food on their favorite grounds, they move farther northward 
as does the English Snipe, yet earlier in the season, not to 
