CHAPTER XXII. 



SPRING WOODCOCK SHOOTING IN GERMANY. 



ONCE again the season of the spring migration of the 

 woodcock has come round, and at the time I write 

 the poulterers' shops here in Germany are crowded 

 with the toothsome longbills. This spring migration 

 is neglected by English sportsmen, or rather the wood- 

 cock is protected by law after the first* of March. 

 The Germans are wiser in this matter, and understand- 

 ing that the woodcock, in nine hundred and ninety-nine 

 cases out of a thousand, is a visitor, afford him pro- 

 tection in their game laws only in May and June. 



" Occuli " Sunday, as it is here called (otherwise 

 the third Sunday in Lent), is considered to mark the 

 time on and after which the birds may be expected. 

 For this reason the woodcock are frequently spoken of 

 here as " Occuli." As a matter of fact an early Easter, 

 such as we had this year, rather puts the calculation out, 

 but the first birds are generally killed in the Rhineland 

 about the loth of March, and the best bags made 

 from that till the end of the month. 



The method pursued is of course the somewhat 

 uninteresting one of waiting at certain well-known 

 spots towards evening. The birds are capricious in 



* Perhaps not. The permission to shoot in March and April at 

 all opens a door to irregularities with respect to other game. 



