81 SHOOTING 



A writer of travels in the East has the following remarks respect- 

 ing the quail :— " Li Eg}^t, when these birds arrive in the month 

 of September, I have more than once seen the Arabs killing and 

 laming them by throwing short sticks at them. During the time 

 tliat the Capitani Bey blockaded the harbour of Alexandria "with 

 his Turkish squadron, one of the Greek sailors of his ship had 

 caught two or three which had perched on the rigging._ The Mus- 

 sulman rewarded him generously, and desirous of varying tlie hard 

 fare which a blockading squadron has usually to sustain, by a more 

 ample supply of such a delicate rarity, promised a piastre for every 

 quail that should be brought to him. In a few days, the riggings, 

 sails, and yards, were covered with flocks of quails ; great numbers 

 were caught of course, and every one was brought into the cabin, 

 as llie price had been so liberally fixed. To escape the dilemma of 

 eitlier ruining his purse or breaking his promise, the Capitani Bey 

 resorted to the alternative of standing out to sea, as by re- 

 moving from the coast he got rid of the visits of these expensive 

 strangers."* 



CHAPTEE IX. 



■WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 



Woodcock shooting is delightfully pleasant and exciting. ^ It has 

 been called the " Eox-hunting of Shooting," a very appropriate and 

 expressive phrase, at once descriptive of its character and dignity. 

 The Woodcock iScolopax Rmticola, Linn,) is placed by naturahsts 

 at the head of the sjiqje genus. It is described by Bewick and 

 others as follows : — Its length is about fourteen inches, twenty-six 

 in breadth, and its weight about twelve ounces, though sometimes 

 it is found to the extent of fourteen. The shape of the head is 

 considered somewhat curious, being more obtusely triangular than 

 round, and the eyes are placed very forward near the top of the 

 ears, and nearly in a Hue with the corners of the mouth. The upper 

 mandible, which measures about tlu:ee inches, is furrowed nearly 

 its entire length, and at the tip it projects beyond and hangs over^ 

 the under one, ending in a kind of knob, which, reseml:)hng those 

 of others of the same genus, is susceptible of the finest feehng, and I 

 calculated by that means for aiding, perhaps by an acute sense of' 

 smeU, to find the small worms in the soft and moist grounds, from 

 whence it extracts them Avith its sharp-pointed tongue. By means 

 of its bill it likewise turns over and tosses about the fallen leaves 

 in search of insects which take shelter underneath. By the entire 



* Letters from the Campagna Felice. 



