The National tribune., 1902-05-22
:. SHINING WOODCOCK.
The Business-nke Method Of Negro Market
Hunters in the South.

The woodcock escaped from the wet
South. where it made its Winter home, 10
busy now preparing to raise brood. ls
| builds a home rapidly. lays rapidly and
matches rapidly The chicks will be out OF
the shell in June or a little before, and big
enough to shoot in middle July, though IN
many States it is unlawful to take them
before September.
The bird is a fair target on the wing,
the cover in which it abides aids its escape
and the man who puts half dozen IN bis
bag earns them. There is a form of mUr-
der to which it is subjected in the South,
however, that lacks all OF the elements OF
sport and is peculiarly fatal. 1t is prac-
ticed usually by negro market hunters,
and is responsible for the deaths of thou
sands in season.
The woodcock. being to a great extent a
night feeder patronizes the big cotton
fields which have been stripped of their
bOlls and are bare of grass, having on
them only the slender dark stalks which
bore the lint. The ground between
these rows of stalks is always soft, hav-
ing been broken up and pulyerized durins
the year. and the bird finds it easy TO send
its bill down in search of worms.
1t flies out of the hollows and swamps
between sunset and S o'clock at night, set
ting thickly in the cottOnfields. and there
it returns to covert. The wOodcock has
round, large, black eye, set near the top
of it's head This eye is the most con-
Spicuous thing about it, and may be
''shined" as readily as the eye of pos
sum or coon.
The negro after woodcock goes into the
field bearing a braZier set on a long pole,
which he carries over his left shoulder.
His companion, for he always has one,
bears an old musket or cheap single-bar-
relied gun, muZZle loading.
The brazier is filed with lighted pine
knots which drip pitch in a stream and
send a red glare over an acre or so. The
men go slowly down the rows, looking
keenly to the right or left.
They are able to see distinctly for 10
yards. They are not looking for the
brown bodies of the birds, which blend
with the earth, but for the pinhead of
brilliance which will denote the eye and
shines steadily.
The woodcock with three inches of its
bill in the ground squatted with its breast
to earth. sees the light, but will not fly
from it. Like the eye of the owl. its eye
is blinded by the glare and it sits still.
When the negroes have located the eye
they have the bird. They approach within
10 feet of it and its outlines are distinct.
The one with the musket levels it. there is
Il SltSul SudpIluS report, dDuul as Iuuu
that made by the explosion of an ordinary
percussion cap. and woOdcock fiuttering
on the ground with its long bill in air.
The load used in this shooting is COM
posed of less than a drachm of black pow
der. some brown paper for waddfng and
an eighth of an ounce of No. 10 shot. 1t
is much smaller than the load used for
rail, and is economical, which is one rea-
son why the negro likes it.
The number of birds killed in this way
is enormous. Two negroes traversing i
field of 100 acres from O'Clock until 2 in
the morning will often bag from 80 to 60
woodcock. and quit then only because
they are sleepy, not because there are no
more birds
They have no game bags or hunting
coats, so the birds as slain are strung by
the necks upon heavy Irvine which has
little cross-bar of wood at one end OF it
and Il big needle used for sewing cotton
bagging at the other. When the hunt is
over the game carrier ties the two ends of
the string together and slings the loop
about his neck.
The birds are for sale to the housewives
IF country towns or to the stewards Of
passing steamboats,. and bring five cents
lpiece. As a well-grown woodcock will
weigh nearly a pound. ii is pretty cheap
neat, cheaper even than domestic chick.
ms.