218 
FRANK FORESTERS FIELD SPORTS. 
bearer, on his light hand, and ever and anon as the circular 
glare passes along over the surface of the ground, his eye 
detects the Woodcock, crouching close to the earth, and gazing 
with its full, fascinated eye upon the strange illumination. 
The next instant up it springs, dizzy and confused and soaring 
upward toward the light. It is seen for a second, and then is 
lost in the surrounding darkness; but of that one quick second 
the sportsman takes advantage; and by a snap shot cuts him 
down, with a light charge; never killing a bird at above ten 
paces distant, and often bagging his hundred in a single even¬ 
ing’s work. 
This mode of Cock-shooting, arises, as it is evident, ex neces¬ 
sitate rei, and may for awhile be sufficiently exciting. It must, 
however, lack all that variety, which is the great charm of our 
northern shooting ; variety, which arises from the working of 
the emulous, obedient, and well-trained dogs, in observing 
whose exquisite instinct, fine attitudes and beautiful docility, 
me judice , lies half the pleasure of field sports; and which, 
together wiih the lovely scenery, the brisk, breezy air, and the 
exulting sense of personal independence, and personal power 
springing from these and from the glow of cheerful exercise, 
renders them to active, energetic and enthusiastic minds the 
first of pleasures, and almost a necessary relief from the dull 
monotony of every-day existence. 
This brings us to Quail shooting, and to what is the climax 
of all our field sports, that mixed, wild, autumn shooting, in one 
day of which, the laborious woodman may kill on one range, 
Quail, Woodcock, Ruffed Grouse, Hare, Snipe, and some two 
or three varieties of Wild Duck. 
I have had many a good day’s sport in many countries, but 
above everything that I have ever seen, or expect to see again, 
give me a day of rough and tumble autumn shooting, such as 
it was ten years ago in Orange county, and such as it may per¬ 
haps be again, for a short time, when the Erie railroad shall 
first give us access to the southern tier of counties. Me judice, 
there is nothing like it in the wild world. 
