WOODCOCK SHOOTING
Woodcock are elusive birds in more ways than one. The shooter finds them elusive in flight, but if he is uncommonly wise he may time his shooting by recit- ing a rhyme to enable him to bring one down. If he is even more skilled and cool-headed he may shoot two, using right and left barrels. Right and left or left and right, he who shoots two woodcock pats himself on the back and, if he reads the glossier magazines, sends off a testament to win for himself a bottle of strong drink. I used to shoot an odd wood- cock now and again. There was nothing nonchalant about it, and I never managed to shoot two at once, nor did 1 have the temerity to forge that affidavit and get a poacher friend to witness it, but 1 always wondered about a keen eye and strong drink. I once saw a very happy and inebriated man shooting at ale bottles he had emptied in short order, and he seemed extraordinarily good at both things. I have a sad feeling, almost a remorse, that I never pulled off that double shot to keep myself for ever thereafter in rich living, more braces of woodcock leading to more bottles of liquor ad infinituni.
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