122 



THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT. 



At present I do not know anybody near the sea-side that will 

 take the trouble to remark at what time of the moon woodcocks 

 first come : if I lived near the sea myself I would soon tell 

 you more of the matter. One thing I used to observe when I 

 was a sportsman, that there were times in which woodcocks 

 were so sluggish and sleepy, that they would drop again when 



THK NlllHTINii.M.K. 



Hushed, just before the spaniels ; nay, just at the muzzle of a 

 gun that had been fired at them. Whether this strange laziness 

 was the effect of a recent fatiguing journey I shall not presume 

 to say. 



Nightingales not only never reach Northumberland and 

 Scotland, but also, as I have been always told, Devonshire and 

 Cornwall. In those two last counties we cannot attribute the 



