§8 SHOOTING. 



I'rom the commencement of Marcli to tlie end of the month, or ] 

 somethnes to the middle of April, woodcocks keep drawing towards ! 

 the coasts, and avail themselves of the first fair wind to retui'n to j 

 their native woods. Should it happen to continue long to blow ad- | 

 versely, they are thereby detained ; and as their numbers increase, i 

 they are more easily found and destroyed by their numerous enemies. ( 



Other accounts somewhat vary this migratory process. It is ; 

 stated that they leave the north with the first frost, and travel j 

 slowly south till they come to their accustomed winter quarters, j 

 They do not usually make a quick voyage, but fly from wood to j 

 wood, reposing and feeding on their journey ; they prefer for their ' 

 haimts woods near moist and marshy springs. They hide them- I 

 selves under thick bushes in the day, and fly abroad to feed in the I 

 dusk cf the evening. A laurel or holly bush is a fa^'ourite place j 

 for their repose. The thick and varnished leaves of these trees 

 prevent the radiation of heat from the soil, and they are less affec- 1 

 ted by the refrigerating influence of a clear sky, so that they aftbrd | 

 a warm and cosy seat for the woodcock. ^ These bkds usually be- [ 

 gin to ily north on the first approach of spring, and theirflights are ' 

 generally longer and then- rests fewer at this season than in autumn, j 

 In the autumn they are driven from the north to the south by the i 

 want of food, and they stop wherever they can find it. In the I 

 spring there is the influence of another powerful instinct added to 

 this — the sexual feeling. They migrate in pairs, and pass as 

 speedily as possible to the place where they are likely to find food, 

 and rear their young, and of which the old birds have already had i 

 the experience of former years. Scarcely any woodcocks winter iii : 

 any part of Germany. In France the're are a few found, particu- 1 

 larly in the southern departments, and in Normandy and Britany. j 

 The woods of England, especially of the west and south, contain | 

 always a certain quantity of these bu'ds ; but there are far more in \ 

 the moist soil and warmer climate of Ireland. In the woods of I 

 southern Italy and Greece, near marshes, they are far more abund- 

 ant ; and they extend in quantities over the Greek islands, Asia \ 

 Minor, and Northern Africa. ' 



Woodcocks have been known t9 settle upon a vessel at sea. Mr.i 

 Travers of Cornwall records an iiista,nce, when at a distance from! 

 land unusual for birds to be seen, a bird was discovered hovering' 

 over the ship. When first discerned, it was high in the air, but| 

 gradually descended, and after making several circuits around, atj 

 length alighted on the deck ; it was so exhausted that it allowed 

 itself to be taken up by the hand. 



In their flight, woodcocks, like other birds, are attracted by a 

 ^are of Hght, and many instances have occurred at the Cromer and 

 Eddystone lighthouses, of their falling victims to it. In 1797, at 

 the lighthouse upon the Hill of Howth, the man who attended it was 

 surprised by a violent stroke against the \vindows, which broke a 

 pane of plate-glass cast for the place, more than three-eighths of an 

 inch thick. On examining the balcony that surrounds the light, he 



