NEAE HOGANAS. 211 



however, considerably, owing, probably in degree, to the 

 state of the wind ; for, some years Cocks are pretty plen- 

 tiful, whilst in others comparatively few are met with. 

 But even in the autumn some of my friends have been 

 rather successful ; amongst the rest " The Old Bushman," 

 who, in a letter to me, says : 



" The autumn of 1849 I spent at Hoganas, near the 

 town of Helsingborg. Towards the end of October a 

 strong south-westerly gale set in, and our little harbour 

 was filled with sloops weather-bound. On the 27th 

 October two captains came down to me and asked me 

 to go out shooting. We left at nine in the morning, 

 and the whole- of the day up to dinner-time was spent 

 in drinking finkel (potato-brandy) with the farmers, and 

 shooting Fieldfares and the like. About three o'clock 

 in the afternoon, when on our road home, we came to 

 a patch of oak scrub, probably about one hundred acres 

 in extent, covered with stumps of trees that had been 

 felled, and from which young shoots had grown up, form- 

 ing bushes, as it were, to the height of two or three feet. 

 The underwood was perfectly dry. As I was getting over 

 the fence, a couple of Woodcocks rose at my feet. I shot 

 right and left, and bagged one. I beat the place without 

 a dog, and in about two hours bagged seventeen Wood- 

 cocks, one Hare, and one Black-Cock, out of about twenty- 

 eight shots. The shooting was beautiful. I had several 

 right-and-left shots, and I feel confident I flushed above 

 one hundred couple of Cocks. I knocked off at last for 

 want of ammunition ; otherwise, I am sure I could have 

 had fifty shots. The plantation was about three English 

 miles from the sea-coast. I went there the next morning ; 

 but the wind had chopped round to the eastward, and I 

 do not think five couple of Cocks were left. I do not 

 recollect the state of the moon, but the weather was very 

 fine, with strong gales." 



p 2 



