324 SCOLOPACIDJ!. 



arresting their flight beyond the western shores of our 

 islands, and possibly their instinct tells them that the deep 

 blue waters of the Atlantic are of far wider extent than 

 the paler waves of the North Sea and the Irish Channel. 

 Whatever be the reason, it is undoubtedly a fact that Wood- 

 cocks often make their appearance on the south and west 

 coasts of Ireland before they are noticed in the north and 

 east. 



The abundance or scarcity of the annual arrivals of Wood- 

 cocks depend very much upon the severity of the weather in 

 the north of Europe. In 1852 an unusual number were 

 shot at Melton Constable, near Holt, in Norfolk, thirty and 

 thirty-three being respectively killed on two successive days 

 in the first week in December, and ninety-three on the follow- 

 ing day by the same shooting party, who might, if other game 

 had been disregarded, have killed at least 110 (A. Newton, 

 Zool. p. 3754). In this case it seems probable that the 

 abundance was local, and due to the inundations of that year, 

 which had expelled the birds from the low grounds. Severe 

 frost in England has the eff'ect of driving the birds from the 

 east to the milder coasts of the west, and to Ireland, which 

 has always been celebrated for its 'cock-shooting. Daniel, in 

 his ' Rural Sports,' has stated that in that island the (late) 

 Earl of Clermont shot fifty couple in one day ; and his suc- 

 cessor informs the Editor that this feat was the result of a 

 wager. It took place at the Earl of Farnham's seat in 

 Cavan ; the entire bag being made in a large wood called 

 Donaweale, and before two o'clock in the afternoon, with a 

 single-barrelled flint-gun. Of all years within the memory 

 of man in Ireland, none, however, equals the winter of 1881, 

 when, according to Sir R. Payne- Gall wey, the peasants 

 bagged their fifteen and twenty couple a day, and would have 

 killed many more but for running short of ammunition. In 

 Clare one dealer alone, although he had two rivals in the 

 trade, forwarded to Dublin and London a thousand Cock 

 a week for three weeks ; and the books of the principal firm 

 of Tralee show that in January and February 1,641 were 

 received from Kerry. One shooter near Kilcredan, county 



