292 WOODCOCK AND SNIPE 



exodus takes place to the coast, when a sufficiency may haply be found 

 among the seaweed in the shape of small mussels and Crustacea. 

 Even there the icy grip of winter may take hold, when, as a last 

 resource, a general westerly movement to the southern counties of 

 England, and across to the south and west of Ireland, is made. Along 

 the latter, in exceptionally severe winters, woodcock swarm, and even 

 there may perish miserably. During the frost and snow of 1867 hosts 

 of woodcock were to be met with in Killala Bay feeding among the 

 seaweed. The birds lay among the rocks and large stones, and were 

 killed by the country people with sticks. Again in 1881 Sir Ralph 

 Payne Gallwey saw 800 woodcock laid out on benches together at 

 Tralee, where over 2000 woodcocks and 9000 snipe were received by 

 one firm of game-dealers. In that season 560 fell to one gun in 

 Co. Kerry, while in Co. Clare one dealer alone, though he had two 

 rivals in the trade, forwarded to Dublin and London a thousand cock 

 a week for three weeks. 



So much for what we may call the daily routine of the woodcock's 

 life, and for the causes which occasionally break the orderly sequence 

 of events. Let us turn now to that period of exaltation and unrest 

 which annually precedes the sterner discipline of parenthood. 



While remarkable for its solitary habits during the greater part of 

 the year, the woodcock when under the influence of sexual excitement 

 displays a decided capacity for social intercourse ; a common impulse 

 breaking down the usual observances. Some interesting facts concern- 

 ing woodcock at this period we owe to Mr. Pentland's 1 observations 

 on breeding birds at Glenstal, Co. Limerick. From him we learn that 

 in favoured spots it is no uncommon thing to see from twenty to 

 thirty birds flying about the woods and glades, chasing one another 

 and calling excitedly. The approach of the birds, says Mr. Ussher in 

 that delightful book The Birds of Ireland, is usually announced by notes 

 of two sorts, which are uttered on the wing. There is a croak, often 

 repeated thrice, which has aptly been compared to the words " more 



1 Thompson, Birds of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 243. 



