140 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



Gradually the haunts of woodcock and snipe are 

 passing away ; all that are known to me now I 

 could count on the fingers of one hand. Shooting 

 has not been the cause of their decreasing numbers, 

 it is the present system of drainage. Their feeding- 

 grounds are breaking up in all directions. I have 

 just left one of the old haunts and breeding- 

 places for woodcocks, but not for snipes. They 

 have left it as a nesting-site, although a few come 

 to feed there at times, not very frequently. The 

 woodcocks, a few pairs only, remain to breed in 

 certain quarters ; but they will not be found there 

 very long. 



Fir-woods and hills are in the distance, covered 

 with brown heather, lit up for a short time by 

 red clouds that follow the sinking sun. Nearer 

 to us is a large stretch of high moorland, dotted 

 over with thick clumps of low firs, scrub - oaks, 

 stunted birches, and heather. The soil is as varied 

 in character as it can well be gravel, sand, peat, 

 and large stones cropping up, a jumble of soil and 

 vegetation. Brown heather there is, old and tough, 

 as well as young shoots of heath springing up in 

 all directions under the cover of the old heather; 



