St. Tammany farmer., 1903-05-02
WOODCOCK AMID ASHES.
An Odd Habit of the Birds That Gives
the Hunter a Chance to
Kill Them,

If there has been SIN Ill fire il
grass or bushes on the edge OF south
ern swampland, or along a hillside
brake, a man will find woodcock
there at this season. The birds come
to it in the daytime, generally pref
ty late in the afternoon, and loaf in
the ashes for awhile before going to
their nightly feeding grounds, says
the New York Sun.
1t is not known why they frequent
the ashes. Certainly there is not
any of their accustomed food to be
found there, for the fire has baked
the ground for half an inch deep so
| that they may not bore through 1t
| for worms, the worms have been
driven down a foot or two, anyhow,
and there are no bugs of any sort
or seeds.
It is probable that the alkai or
| salts of the ashes are wanted a few
weeks before the breeding season be-
gins. Woodcock pay no heed to
freshly burned ground in the fall.
A man who has found patch of
earth like this or has fired one to at
tract the birds, may take dog with
him to act as retriever, but it will be
valueless in finding the live birds. as
the pungent smell of the ashes eff
fectually hides all scent and the fine
dust gets into the dogs nose, making
it sore. Commonly it will go alone
quartering over the ground back and
forth, exploring every square yard
of it, now and then getting up bird
which will flush not further than Is
yards away and start back to the
woods whence it came.
This sort of woodcock shooting is
comparatively easy, as there are no
limbs or canes to interfere. The
birds are very hard to find, however,
once they have been downed, their
dusty hued feathers matching excel
lently with the level expanse of black
and gray.
The woodcocl squats when it sees
the man approaching and remains
still with its belly to the ground un-
til he has drawn quite near. At such
time the only thing readily visible
about it is it's large, round black eye.
set high in the head, and man will
walk within 20 yards of a score of
birds and never see one.
If he has dog and the dog comes
to a point it will be from eyesight
and not from nose, though it is, a fact
not widely known that a pointer or
setter that has never seen wood
cocks when hunting for the first
time over woodland that contains
them will point them as readily rs it
points quail. This is supposed 20 be
because the scent of the two birds is
practically identical.
An older dog will point jacksnipe,
though not so readily. It is this pc
culiar perfume which appeals to the
setter and pointer. They will some
times point and remain rigid before
small land terrapin, which has the
quail or woodcock scent strongly.
The woodcocks are to be found in
the burned places only when the
grass has been freshly fired. They
will find it within "a hours, and will
visit it for day or two. Then they
desert it. If they do not find it be-
fore it has grown old they do not
like it.
They want the ashes when they are
light dry and gray. not after they
have settled and have been damp
ened repeatedly by dew. They dust
themselves in these ashes much as
quail dust themselves in country
road and approaching burned acre
or two quietly man may sometimes
see a little pillar of gray arising
from one of the birds at this work.