570 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 



the village, one of these hirds sounded its call quite uncon- 

 cernedly early in the morning during the last days of 

 September. 



I will conclude by devoting a few words to the Wood- 

 cock. When I arrived at Gorgeny on the 21st of September 

 the keepers reported that they had only seen one or two 

 Cock, and during the first days of our stay we found but 

 one while beating the lower woods, which seemed to be 

 quite shunned by the " longbills," although better-looking 

 places for them could not be imagined. In the main valley, 

 however, there was a not very extensive stretch of damp 

 pastures studded with birch and alder bushes, which did 

 not form regular thickets, but were separated from each 

 other by bits of open meadow\ On ground with such 

 scanty cover no sportsman would ever look for Woodcock, 

 yet on the 23rd of September the keepers reported that they 

 had seen some there, and when we went out next day we 

 found a good many within a small area at least forty 

 of them and a few Common Snipe. They had been driven 

 down from the mountains by the inclement weather ; and as 

 it grew still colder and more autumnal we again went out 

 on the 1st of October and found our expectations realized, 

 for we certainly met with far more than a hundred Cock 

 on a small piece of ground ; but there were only two or three 

 Snipe. On the following day the Cock were still more 

 plentiful ; but we could only shoot in the morning, as I had 

 to leave that neighbourhood at noon. 



It was interesting to see how, before we began shooting, 

 these Woodcock districts were always surrounded by low- 

 circling birds of prey, which there found an easy booty. 

 Besides Goshawks, Falcons, and Larger and Smaller Spotted 

 Eagles, I saw a " Stein " Eagle diligently quartering the 

 ground, and one Larger Spotted Eagle was even foolish 



