. The wild-fowler : a treatise on ancient and modern wild-fowling, historical and practical . ning flight is rather earlier than that of wild-fowl. It is just at the commencement of twilight that the woodcockmoves from its daily retreat to its nocturnal feeding-grounds. Col-quhoun says, when the shrill chirp of the blackbird is heard in thegrove, it is a good warning bell that the woodcock is about leavingits haunts.* A careful, observer of the route taken by woodcocks on leaving orreturning to the wood in their daily flights, may generally makepretty certain of a shot by occupying a secluded
. The wild-fowler : a treatise on ancient and modern wild-fowling, historical and practical . ning flight is rather earlier than that of wild-fowl. It is just at the commencement of twilight that the woodcockmoves from its daily retreat to its nocturnal feeding-grounds. Col-quhoun says, when the shrill chirp of the blackbird is heard in thegrove, it is a good warning bell that the woodcock is about leavingits haunts.* A careful, observer of the route taken by woodcocks on leaving orreturning to the wood in their daily flights, may generally makepretty certain of a shot by occupying a secluded position, so as tointercept them either on leaving or returning to the wood. It is thehabit of woodcocks, when uninterrupted, to leave their retreats ateve, and return in the morning with great regularity through thevery same glades, and frequently to the same spot as that in whichthey rested on the day previously. Everyone accustomed to the sport of woodcock-shooting* isfamiliarly acquainted with the signal Mark, cock! and the * Vide Rocks and Rivers, by John Colquhomi, Esq. : WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 329 pleasurable excitement and anxious expectation which follows thesound of those words as they echo through the wood. The note of the woodcock is a g-uttural cry, sounding like Pa-a-ck r or Pa-a-ik / Excellent woodcock-shooting may be had in Ireland; and thoughthere may sometimes be a difficulty in finding dogs, there are plentyof Irish peasants with their shillelaghs ready and willing, for a smallremuneration, to proceed in line through the woods and flush thecocks for the sportsman. As to the abundance of woodcocks in that country, it is recordedof the late Duke of Richmond, that many years ago, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he received as a present an immense pie,which, when opened, was found to contain twenty score of wood-cocks !* * Vide Cravens Eecreationa in Shooting, V U CHAPTER LXIIL METHODS OF CAPTURING WOODCOCKS WITH GLADE NETS, SNARES,AND OTHER CURIOUS ARTI
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectfowling, bookyear1864
