218 



THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



the others near, and they fly off in alarm and shun 

 the locality in future, the first being most likely the 

 only one caught. 



THE WOODCOCK (Scolopax rusticula], though com- 



SPRINGE FOR SNIPE AND WOODCOCK. 



mon enough in Ireland, varies greatly in abundance 

 in different years. During the unexampled frost 

 of January, 1881, they positively swarmed on the 

 coast. To my knowledge, peasants out of work 

 and farmers' sons, with old-fashioned muzzle-loading 



