WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. 81 J 



it is not unusual, to see them near the woods in pairs, at the 

 morning and evening flight-time, and at that period to hear 

 them, when flying, make a small piping noise : at all other 

 times they are silent. Woodcocks are fullest in December 

 and January : from the third week in February, when they 

 usually pair, until their departure, they are greatly inferior 

 in flesh and flavour. 



Springing spaniels and cockers are the only dogs well 

 adapted for woodcock-shooting. It is particularly to be 

 remembered that springers, to be excellent for woodcock- 

 shooting, should quest upon the haunt, hunt the ground 

 close, and at the same time with great spirit. The woodcock 

 seldom flushes (especially the first time) until winded by the 

 springer : it conceals itself under the stubs, and rarely 

 makes much work before laying itself up, so that spaniels 

 for this use must have the finest noses. It may save the 

 sportsman time and trouble to recollect, that after spaniels 

 have flushed woodcocks two or three times, they either pitch 

 in the ditch upon the bank of the wood, or betake them- 

 selves to the hedges adjoining to the covert : a person who 

 marks well is a valuable assistant in this diversion. 



The author of Wild Sports in the West, says, " Woodcock- 

 shooting in the west of Ireland is acknowledged to be very 

 superior ; and when the flight has been large, and the season 

 is sufficiently severe to drive the birds well to cover, there is 

 not, to a quick eye, more beautiful shooting in the world. 

 Some of the covers are copses of natural wood, situated in 

 the very centre of the mountains, consequently, when the 

 snow falls, every woodcock for miles around deserts the 

 heath, and seeks the nearest shelter. Then will the sports- 

 man be amply repaid for his labour. From a copse of not 

 more than thirty acres in extent, I have seen fifty couple of 

 woodcocks flushed ; and as several excellent covers lay in 



