DECREASE OF THE WOODCOCK IN ENGLAND. 37 



see the almost boundless northern forests, they 

 would probably think with me, that if the whole 

 of the scanty population of that part of the world 

 were to go out for the purpose, they would not 

 be able to explore the hundredth part of the woods 

 in the course of a year, and consequently they 

 could not take or destroy any considerable num- 

 ber of eggs. If they are really scarcer than they 

 were, it is doubless in some degree attributable 

 to the greater number of persons who are in the 

 habit of shooting at the present day than was 

 the case formerly." * 



There can be no doubt that this conjecture 

 is correct, and the wholesale destruction by 

 shooting does not take place in any part of 

 the Scandinavian provinces for Mr. Lloyd him- 

 self says that he never killed more than three 

 in any one day during his residence in the north 

 of Europe but is carried on principally by 

 British sportsmen, not only in their native land, 

 but in various parts of the south of Europe ; 

 where their performances have occasionally been 

 such as to ( astonish the natives,' and even to ex- 

 cite the surprise of many a veteran gunner at 

 home. 



I have had good woodcock-shooting in Wales 

 and in Devonshire, and in some of the larger 



* Lloyd's ' Northern Field Sports.' 



