120 HJEKP-PIPA. 



one or other of the hirds is pretty sure to respond, or it 

 may be fly directly towards him ; and in the end he 

 usually succeeds in shooting the whole or greater part of 

 tbem. Nordholm tells us, indeed, that " it often happens 

 that a pack of ten, twelve, and eighteen, are thus shot 

 Avithout it being needful for the man to move a single 

 foot from the spot." 



We are informed, moreover, that " if there be several 

 Hazel-Hens in the same tree, the gunner may kill all, pro- 

 vided he first shoots the undermost ! " This may by pos- 

 sibility be the case in the very early part of the year, 

 but certainly not when the season is advanced ; for, nine 

 times out of ten, the other birds, if there be more than 

 one in the tree, almost invariably take wing on hearing 

 the discharge of the guu. 



Looking on Ilazel-Hen shooting, whether in the 

 manner described, or with the aid of a " Fogel-Hund," as 

 the very tamest of sports, I have seldom shot these birds 

 unless they have crossed my path ; but I have known 

 others to commit considerable execution amono'st them. 

 A man of mine, indeed, one day killed eleven Ilazel- 

 Hens with his pea-rifle. 



Not a few of these birds are taken in traps and 

 snares, which being similar to those used for the capture 

 of the Capercali and the Black-Cock, there is no occasion 

 to speak further of them. 



The number of Hazel-IIens annually taken in Scandi- 

 navia is something enormous. Brunius, in his Hand- 

 Lexicoii, published in 1798, calculated that 60,000 were 

 yearly consumed in Stockholm alone, and 40,000 more 

 in other parts of the country. At the present day that 

 number is, beyond doubt, very greatly exceeded. 



