The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-27

IN WOODS th6t are OIy anu LAVo hnius Wy,
ground about the trees. They are found
often on wooded hillsides, where the leaves
lie thickly; but II the leaves are scraped
away the earth underneath will DO found
to be soft. damp and black. OF looee
formation.
An excellent place to look for these birds
Ia in the neighborhood Of q spring, where
the earth roundabout H. oozy. II the
ground be heavily shaded. 10 much the
better.
Often In going through the woods q man
will come to q small hollow whose sides are
dry and hard. but whose bottom holds
moisture II will be good thing to 60
down this hollow. because woodcock ire
quent 1t and any shot afforded there
apt to be a fair one
We O'Clock when they are In country
at all are certain to be In one OF three kinds
Of territory. They are on the hlllsiaes'
where the sun 81 rikes and warns the ground.
bringing worms near to the surface or
they are In damp hollows, about springs
and In the very densest OF low, swamPy
lands; or they are In the cornfields. IA.
At this time Of year. when the corn with
wide blades still stands, they are iond 81
the felds and shooting them therein 10
Of an entirely different character from
woods or swamp shooting. A dog wiz
do the man but little good except Tor re-
trieving.
The corn blades stretch from row to row.
often touching. making green wal tha.
shifts slightly In the wind. The man walks
down row and the birds when they faush
dart across the rows, threading their way
between the stalks and blades a. rapidly
a. they thread the forest trees ana swamp
canes.
This IL snap shooting Of the snappiest
kind, for the bird ID never IN view for more
than q second or two. Not more than
one in twenty will rise above the corn.
The man hears o queer whirrinS OF
tremulous wings, gets Q glimpse OF low
fyig, weaving brown body, and that is
ali. Necessarily he must shoot at the PLACE
where he thinks the woodeock TO be. he
from the ground, and he pitches his gun
yard ahead Of the supposed place where
the bird Is, knowing that the cornDlades
will not 81 op the shot.
II he kills, the chances are that he will
not see the bird fall, though he may hear
the slight thump. The retriever must 90
the rest.
When the hunter has gone up one row
and down the other and covered tho held
in this fashion he may be sure that many
birds have flushed Of which he has seen
and heard nothing. They will stand being
d. sssS eses or s but %hsn disturbed
for the third time are apt to 60 elsewhere.
So il there be bit Of woodland near TO
the field, possibly running down to the
fence which encloses the corn, he will hunt
the woodland. II 1t be wood OF fair open,
ness, with enough Of leaves on the ground
to give the birds hiding and enough sun
light sitting through the branches to make
the light good, ne will have woodcock
shooting at its best, for this form OF the
sport Ia superior to that OF the cornheld
or the swamp. The man In this place gets
to see his birds as they dodge away between
the trunks and can tell with some certainty
ha~ hx.h hal 10 a
Not every place which looks as II It ought
to have woodcock contains them. A. hunter
will seek through many likely looking
spots in a morning and draw most OF them
blank.
The bird is opinionated in selecting, its
feeding places. but when one n flushed
the gunner may make sure that there are
others near, as the woodcook In It's nigra-
ton southwark does not trave! singly
There are always two or three other birds
close BY
fall without regard to seI ,. All .oung s n
now more females will be found, because
they come down from the breeding grounds
ahead OF the males. The female wood.
cock is the larger and finer bird, and l! said
to boss the family from the time Of the
spring marriage until tho separation IN
the autumn. l
When they reach the South and have
selected the region wherein they viii make
their winter homes, the woodcocks break
up the small bands In which they have
travelled, the males and females mingle
Unfortunately, and they are to be found
fact, wherever food and shelter are best
and most abundant, and twenty birds
may sometimes be got up from two acres
Down in that country they feed in the
open pastures and fields In the night and
return to the recesses Of the swamps at
From this habit Of the woodcock comes
past, re- shooting az it Is prar' . ID by South
arn sportsmer, and night 81 ooI ing a. dole
BY negroes, who kill for the market.
The woodcock fly into the fields between
sunset and dark. The first birds may
majority Of them will come In the twilight
and for some time afterward.
The men take stations in the back parts
of the fields within hundred yards Of he
trees which mark the beginning OF the
swamp, and shoot the birds going over
cause the light is bad and the woodcock.
coming from an elevation above the trees
and going down upon long slant to The
feeding ground, is travelli & with greet swift
nees II looks, in fact like round, black
ball against the sky and is in sight for only a
moment. III Is HeCtbSuIy " hoiu oi.u ~
and considerable distance ahead, and
even good shots exercising every care
! make low scores. This shooting Is much
| like duck pass shooting Of evenings, witt
the exception that the birds are smaller
and iy later and ere more difficult to see.
Woodcock are fond OF the hare cotton
| fields by night. The ground Is soft from
| cultivation and thew are able to bore In 1t
| without trouble The negroes Of the lower
1 Mississippi Valley hunt them by torch
| light, Just as deer are shired.
Two darkies having an old musket loaded
with a thimbleful OF powder and pinch
of shot poke about the fields, one Of them
carving a torch made Of fat pine splinters.
| The boring woodcock has big, rcu'd black
eve set we'll IN In the head, and 1t shines
| almost az rnadlv ~ a deer's eve.
Either the lipht blinds It or II cares moth
| ing about II, for It will not flush though
| the men advance within ten feet. Then
' all OF the body OF the bird 10 visible, with
| It's belly upon the ground and its bill In
| the earth as far as It will reach.
II sits 30 until the musket H. leveled
and 1t IL knocked over. Where the birds
are plentiful pair Of negroes will get SON e.
/ times thirty or forty in q night In this
manner, selling them afterward for five
| cents apiece.
Woodcock do not reach the South in any
quantity until late in November. They
have become less plentiful In late years
| in the more settled parts Of the country,
, but are to be found In great abundance In
the lands along the lower part OF the Sabine
River, In western Louisiana and SOUTH
eastern Teyas.