SHOOTING AT TUE DRAG. 207 



Goshawk, at once alights on tlie gronnd, wlierc it 

 presently meets its doom. 



This very destructive system of shooting "Woodcocks 

 at the " Drag," which is common throughout the length 

 and breadth of Scandinavia, is bad enough in itself; but if 

 confined to the eai'ly part of the spring, when birds have 

 only partially paired, might be excusable enough. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, it is in many places continued, and 

 oftentimes by the first people of the land, throughout the 

 whole summer,* when, to say nothing of the old birds, 

 vast numbers of chicks, that are deprived of their natural 

 protectors, must necessarily perish. 



Of the slaughter committed amongst the Woodcocks, 

 in Scandinavia, at the "Drag," some idea may be formed 

 by what we are told by the Jiigmilstare Sylvan, who, 

 when speaking of the island of Gotland, says : " These 

 birds, which in the spring arrive here in thousands, 

 are nevertheless in a short time decimated. If one goes 

 into the forest of a fine Saturday or Sunday evening, one 

 hears the most lively fusilade from all points of the com- 

 pass ; and even if the occasional call-note of one or other 

 bird makes known that it has escaped harmless, it is 

 nevertheless certain that immense numbers are thu.s shot 

 during the pairing and breeding season." 



Though the poor Woodcock is so generally persecuted, 

 there are certain districts in Scandinavia where it alto- 

 gether escapes molestation. " The only bird allowed to 

 breed undisturbed in this part of the country," writes 

 M. B., a resident of Nordmark, Wermeland, " is the 



* I have now, indeed, a letter before me from a distinguished Noi-we- 

 gian sportsman, Ln which, wlien speaking of the Woodcock, he says : 

 " No regular ' Drag ' takes place after the commencement of July ; but in 

 tlio Frognerasisen, near to Christiania, I have shot throe birds on tlio 

 Ttli July; and atTind, in the Tellemarken, there was a good ' Drag' on the 

 lOtli .July. In the autumn I have observed no 'Drag.' " 



