68 



On the riilge of the hill, towards which the path led, there is a slight 



depression, appropriately called " the cock-shut," and here, doubtless, long time 



ago, when 



" Forewarned of winter's iron svaiy. 

 The birds from arctic regions winged their way," 



in greater numbers than they do now, many a woodcock, with his noiseless 



wings out-spread, would glide through this hollow in the line of hill ; and in the 



glade artificially formed between the woods on either side, the cunning fowler 



would suspend his net. Then, at "cock-shut time," or that marked hour at 



even-tide, when poultry go to roost, the birds of night issue forth from their 



hiding-plaies, the woodcocks to their feed on the flashes, as the owls to the 



fields for mice ; there would the fowler anxiously watch for the woodcock's flight. 



The " Cockshut hour " has ever formed a marked time ; denoting the close of 



evening, and the time when all animals, that are dormant in the day time, 



begin to move. The net-fishermen always make a draft with their nets for 



salmon at that hour, and if they lose their " Cockshut draft," think they have 



missed the best hour in the night. Shakspere alludes to the cockshut hour as a 



familiar time of the day, — 



" Surrey and himself, 



Much about Cockshut time, from troop to troop 



Went through the army."- 



On the summit of the hill several maple trees were observed, and from their 



large size and old growth it seemed possible that they might be indigenous there. 



A stray fossil or two were here picked up, outlying treasures of the quarry; and 



here too the botanists eagerly gathered the elegant wood vetch Vicia sylvatica, 



climbing over the bushes and loaded with its pretty white flowers, so prettily 



veined and streaked with blue. Scott has beautifully described this plant, which 



for foliage, flowers, or habit of growth is scarcely exceeded by any of our English 



wild flowers : — 



" And where profuse the v;ood vetch cllnga 

 iiound ash and elm in verdant rings ; 

 Its pale and azure-pencilled ilower 

 Should canopy Titania's bower." 



On the descent through the woods, in the direction of the Dormington 

 quarries, some other plants of interest were found, and the more common ones 

 were flowering in great profusion. The following species grew pretty plentifully 

 along the path side -.—Euphorbia amygdaloides, Chlora perfoliata, Hypericum 

 pulchrum, and Erodium cicutarium ; and later in the day the Oentiana amaryllia 

 and the less common Oentiana campestris were also gathered. 



* Mr. Flavell Edmunds suggests that this etymology will not bear close examination, 

 being based on an accidental resemblance between two different words. The Shaksperian 

 phrase "cockshut hour" may have originally meant the opposite of " cockcrow-time," but 

 it came to be applied to the time of evening twilight, when, as is fully described above, 

 poachers used to hang nets from tree to tree, at particvdar places, so as to "shut " or stop 

 the way of birds when going to roost. The word cockshoot, or cockshott, on the other 

 hand, has no connection with birds, but means a spur or shoot of a hill ; cock, in Saxon 

 names of persons or places, always meaning little: e.g., the names Wilcock, little "Will, 

 Adcock, little Adam, Silcock, little Silas, etc. In some parts of England the word shott 

 means a nook or angular piece of land, the idea annexed to the word being always that of 

 projection. 



