the Woodcock in Ireland. 345 



ground they occupied been converted to purposes of pasture 

 or tillage. It may be remarked, that plantations of very dif- 

 ferent character are selected by the woodcock for its nest : thus 

 Sir F. Mackenzie observes, "the soil where the nests were 

 found (at Conan, Ross-shire) is gravelly and rather dry ; the 

 grass tolerably long, without underwood, and the trees, oak, 

 birch, and larch, not exceeding 30 years' growth." In another 

 instance, where three nests were found in the same wood near 

 Derby, we learn that * the underwood was thin and of not 

 more than from seven to ten years' growth*." Again, we are 

 told, that of two nests at Brahan Castle, in Ross-shire, the one 

 " was in withered grass, partially screened by spray and bram- 

 bles," the other " amongst pruned branches at the root of a 

 large larch treef." The nests before mentioned, in the coun- 

 ties of Antrim and Wexford, are said to have been in thickets. 

 The sites pointed out to me at Tullamore park were all in an 

 extensive young plantation, consisting chiefly of larch fir, ap- 

 parently of about eight years' growth ; here there is not much 

 other cover, the place having originally been a heath-covered 

 tract : it however joins a park rich in fine timber and a pro- 

 fusion of underwood. A friend just returned from shooting 

 in Inverness-shire informs me, that in an indigenous birch 

 wood, on the banks of Loch Ruthven, and containing but 

 little coppice, some pairs of woodcocks have nestled for the 

 last few years. 



Our i( change of seasons," or more equable climate of late 

 years, by reason of the milder winters, and the summers being 

 colder and more humid, speaking in general terms, than they 

 were even at a recent period, — although the nearer they ap- 

 proximate, the more widely they, in this very respect, duTer 

 from those of high northern latitudes, to which the woodcock 

 chiefly resorts to breed, seems to have had much influence 

 on the increased number of these birds, which at all events 

 breed, and it may be, remain permanently in the British 

 islands J. It appears evident too, that it was not caused by 

 the peculiar suitability of any one, two, or three summers, as 



* Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ix. p. 543. 

 f Mag. Nat. Hist, vol. i. p. 121. New series. 



X It is very obvious, that warm dry summers in these countries, as for in- 

 stance those of 1825 or 182G, would be ill adapted to the woodcock's feeding. 



Ann. Nat. Hist. Vol. 2. No. 11. Jan. 1839. 2 a 



