11 IK HirrERK. 



501 



it flics in the iiighl, answers their description of being like a flagging collar, and hath 

 such a kind of hooping-cry as thej' talk of." 



Mr. ^laxwell, in his " Wild Sports of the West of Ireland," describing the sport 

 enjoyed by a friend and himself, while shooting over a fen in Ireland, says, " Out of 

 seventy head, we reckoned one woodcock, and a brace of old grouse that we found 

 among the heathy banks bordering the fen. We shot six couple of teal ; and, with 

 one exception, the remainder of the count were snipes, of which at least a fourth wei'e 

 jacks. In the most impassible section of the morass, old York pointed with more than 

 cu-^tomary steadiness ; and, it might be fancy, actually looked round with peculiar 

 expression, as if he would insinuate that no common customer was before him. I got 

 within twenty yards, and eucoui'aged the old setter to go in ; but he turned his grizzled 

 and intelligent ej'es to mine, and wagged his tail, as if he would have said, 'You 

 don't know what I have here.' A tuft of earth flung by one of the aides-de-camp 

 obliged the skulker to get up, and to our general surprise, a fine bittern rose. I knocked 

 him over ; but though he came down with a broken wing and wounded leg, he kept the 

 old dog at bay until my companion floundered through the swamp and secured him. 

 On this exploit I 'plumed myself, for bitterns are here extremely scarce, and in Ballycroy 

 thev are seldom heard or found." 



