324 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



The autumnal flight and arrival of woodcocks to this country, gene- 

 rally take place about the beginning- of October : the time of their 

 vernal flight is March or April. On first arrival they keep to the 

 open ground, taking temporary refuge in the grass, rushes, brush- 

 wood, heather, clumps of trees, or whatever offers in the locality 

 where they chance to alight. They do not long remain in these ex- 

 posed places, but as soon as they have partially recovered from the 

 effects of their tedious passage across the sea, they hie to the woods 

 as their favourite and natural places of resort. 



Woodcocks generally arrive in falls of ten to fifty; always choosing 

 night for their migrations, or a mist. When they have arrived, and rested 

 sufficiently, they soon disperse ; and though a few come in October, 

 the greater numbers arrive in November and December, generally 

 between the hours of sunset and sunrise. It is erroneous to suppose 

 that moonlight either hastens or determines the arrival of woodcocks ; 

 their movements are regulated by the wind rather than the moon. 



It sometimes happens, after encountering adverse gales in their 

 passage across the sea, that they reach their destinations in a very 

 exhausted state. In allusion to this, I remember hearing of a very 

 remarkable circumstance which occurred in my own immediate 

 neighbourhood, on an estate abutting upon the sea-coast, part of 

 which comprised several hundred acres of woodland. It happened 

 during a hard winter, that early in the morning, one of the gardeners 

 employed on the estate flushed a number of woodcocks in the plea- 

 sure grounds around the house; they appeared to have scarcely 

 power to suspend themselves in the air. The gardener caught three 

 or four couple alive, in the space of a few minutes. With hands full 

 he ran to the house to deposit them, at the same time telling the 

 singular adventure to the servants, whom curiosity and the prospect 

 of sport led to the gardens to witness the unusual scene. Nearly all 

 the domestics, male and female, in the house then joined in the pur- 

 suit of capturing them ; and upwards of a dozen couple were secured 

 alive without injury ; but on examining their bodies they were found 

 to be almost skeletons, and totally unfit for culinary purposes. The 

 poor captives were taken to the squire, who immediately directed 

 them to be set at liberty in the woods near the richest swamp on the 

 estate. 



the city of the Sultan to the city of the Czar. * * * * At Constantinople, 

 in Greece, in the Islands of the Archipelago, in all the Ionian Islands, in Sicily, 

 Sardinia, and Corsica they abound." Sport and its Pleasures : A.D. 1859. 



