HUNGARY 69 



with the re-awakening of nature ; it may be mere custom ; or 



it may be the bird's comparative scarcity — the spring- arrival of 



the woodcock causes much more interest and excite- 



Woodcock. 

 ment than his autumn arrival. He is shot in beats, 



and morning and evening from a stand. A brace or two a day 



is good work for a gun, though over 20,000 are shot in the 



year. 



There are some fine pheasant shoots in the country, and the 



birds fly very well, as they are not brought up artificially. Partridges 



are shot from August to November over doo-s, as 



well as in beats. Ouail arrive in numbers in different "peasant, 



"^ Partridge, 



parts of Hungary and abound for a week or so at the Quail etc. 



migration time. There is, however, a sprinkling of 



quail the whole summer, and all over the country. There are 



places and times in which a gun can secure several hundred brace 



in a day. The statistics account for about 400,000 annually. 



Water -fowl of all kinds are shot on our swamps and lakes, 



sometimes in considerable quantity. Geese, duck, snipe and 



other fowl offer sport sometimes throughout the summer. Of wild 



duck it would appear that not far short of 600,000 are shot 



annually. There are various other birds, such as eagles, buzzards, 



cranes, and even the white pelican, which, without exactly coming" 



under the head of "game," offer at times sporting shots. 



In bringing these shooting notes to a close, it may be of interest 



to quote a fragment of the statistics that show our recent increase 



of game. Four game lists are also given, as possibly interesting 



to the reader. 



