586 SCOLOPACIDK. 



numbers of Woodcocks found in Devonshire, ConiM'all, in 

 Wales, and in Ireland ; the birds in many instances pur- 

 suing their course till they reach the sea, or returning, if pos- 

 sible, when they have overshot the laud. In Ireland, says 

 the Rev. Mr. Daniel, in his Rural Sports, " the Earl of 

 Claremont shot fifty couple in one day ; but it should be 

 premised that such was the abundance of these birds, as to 

 be sold in some parts near Ballyshannon, in the county of 

 Donegal, for one penny each, and the expense of powder and 

 shot." The author of Wild Sports of the West, says, " the 

 Woodcock shooting in the West of Ireland is acknowledged 

 to be very superior ; and when the flight has been large, and 

 the season is sufficiently severe to drive the birds well to 

 cover, there is not, to a quick eye, more beautiful shooting 

 in the world. Some of the covers are copses of natural wood, 

 situated in the very centre of the mountains ; consequently, 

 when the snow falls, every Woodcock for miles around de- 

 serts the heath, and seeks the nearest shelter. Then will the 

 sportsman be amply repaid for his labour. From a copse of 

 not more than thirty acres extent, I have seen fifty couple of 

 Woodcocks flushed ; and as several excellent covers lay in 

 the immediate vicinity, it M'as no uncommon thing for two 

 or three guns to bring home twenty, nay, thirty couple. I 

 have known a party fire a number of shots that would appear 

 incredible ; and I have more than once expended my last 

 charge of powder, and left, for want of ammunition, one or 

 two copses untried." It is recorded in DaniePs Rural Sports, 

 that Mr. Yea of Swansea, killed one hundred couple of 

 Woodcocks in the season of 1796. Gilbert White of Sel- 

 borne, says, in his Journal, "a gentleman writes word from St. 

 Mary's, Scilly, that in the night between the 10th and 11th 

 of the month, the wind being west, there fell such a flight 

 of Woodcocks within the walls of the garrison, that he him- 

 self shot, and conveyed home, twenty-six couple, besides 



