CHAPTER IX 

 THE COMING OF THE WOODCOCK 



The October migration — Mountain shooting in the west of Ireland — The 

 November passage — Exhausted birds — FHght made by night — Wood- 

 cocks and lighthouses — English shooting — "Cock" in the Western 

 Isles — Great Irish bags — The frost of 1881 — Flint-and-steel records — 

 Woodcock-shooting — Weight of woodcock — Comparative scarcity — 

 Mediterranean slaughter — Nesting in Britain — Spring migration — 

 Some observations in Denmark — Reported woodcock in South Africa, 



OCTOBER is the month when woodcock, retreating 

 from the bitter winter of northern Europe, bethink 

 themselves of making their way, after their long sojourn 

 in higher latitudes, to the milder climate of our sea-girt 

 isles. And especially to the west of Ireland, where 

 winter has less terrors and better feeding for them than 

 any other part of the United Kingdom, do they direct 

 their flight. At the end of October woodcock begin 

 dropping in in small numbers. Gunners who know 

 their ways expect to find a few here and there towards 

 the close of this month, about the more sheltered 

 mountain-sides of Mayo, Connemara, and other parts 

 of Ireland. And with a dog that understands its busi- 

 ness and a man who knows the habits of these game 

 and their haunts — and woodcock are singularly faithful, 

 as it were by tradition, to favoured spots — some very 

 interesting sport can be picked up in a modest way 

 about the lonely but marvellously picturesque mountain 

 interiors of the west of Ireland. 



The main migration of these birds sets in usually in 



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