Forest and Stream 
$3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1913. 
VOL. LXXX.—No. 3. 
12T Franklin St., New York. 
The Timberdoodle 
O NLY a sober little trout fly! The first of 
its kind, but as it sits cocked up on the 
table before me it recalls many days of 
glorious sport with a truly royal game bird, one 
of the finest in all the world, and I believe one 
of the most intelligent. It is true that at times 
the woodcock presents an easy mark, particularly 
after a long flight (possibly hundreds of miles) 
and a heavy feed the night before. The bird is 
resting, possibly dozing, in the warm sunshine 
of an October day. It is lazy and comfortable, 
disinclined to great exertion of its pow’er of 
flight as it flaps up easily from the dog’s point. 
By THEODORE GORDON 
But wake him up, give him a little experience 
of guns and gunner, and the woodcock becomes 
another creature, not only in the matter of flight, 
but in cleverly outwitting the designs of sports¬ 
men of experience and their well-trained dogs. 
I have been an eye wdtness of tricks that seemed 
almost uncanny. Without being w'earisome I 
may mention one instance among a great many 
winch showed that the woodcock has brains in 
that big head of his. I was shooting with a 
friend and one dog in good cover near a stream 
of respectable size, and was w'alking w’ell in ad¬ 
vance, but much nearer the water than the other 
gunner and his dog, when two shots rang out, 
and facing the sound I saw tw'O w'oodcock flying 
rapidly toward me. Now, all about me the brush 
was thin and there were only a few trees of 
small size; it was late in the season and the 
leaves were down. Both birds pitched near at 
hand, paused a moment as if listening, then slip¬ 
ped away toward the stream. On reaching this 
they rose again without a sound and flew to the 
worst piece; of bog briers, trailing vines and 
tbick brush in the neighborhood. A practically 
safe refuge. Of course the dog could make noth¬ 
ing of such a performance. 
ONE OF A BRACE THAT WORKED TO PERFECTION. 
