THE COMING OF THE WOODCOCK 



partridges and pheasants. In the Mediterranean the 

 slaughter by gunners among these migrants has been 

 enormous, so enormous as to influence undoubtedly the 

 numbers of these birds that annually fare northward to 

 nest in colder climates. British yachtsmen have for 

 generations past taken an immense tribute from wood- 

 cock on the shores of Greece, Albania, and other 

 favourite localities. So far back as the year 1844, 

 Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, Colonel Parker, and a few 

 friends were shooting from their headquarters in the 

 Louisa yacht on the classic shores of the Morea and 

 Thessaly, often killing scores of cock within sight of 

 Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus. Their bag was immense. 

 In six days' shooting, for instance, they killed 1,026 

 woodcock ; the two best days yielded 196 and 193 birds 

 respectively. Sport with such game and amid such 

 surroundings must have been enjoyable indeed ! On 

 the other hand, the woodcock bagged in these localities 

 are not usually to be found in such high condition as a 

 bird fattened amid British feeding-grounds. Such, at 

 least, is the opinion of the majority of Mediterranean 

 sportsmen. There is still good woodcock-shooting to be 

 obtained in the Mediterranean, during winter, by those 

 who know the ropes and are acquainted with the best 

 grounds ; but the wonderful sport of the middle of the 

 last century is not now to be expected. 



A fair number of woodcock nest in this country, 

 especially in some of the southern counties, where 

 large coverts afford them sanctuary. If cock-shooting 

 were by law compelled to cease at the same period as 

 pheasant-shooting, there can be little doubt that the 

 further period of repose and quiet would induce many 

 more of these birds to breed in these islands than is 

 now the case. In some counties these birds are pro- 

 tected from the ist March, but in others shooting con- 



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