REFLECTIONS. 45 



that we should find the best shooting in the gulf 

 of Salonica, but the wind changed to ' on shore/ 

 so we could not anchor there, and therefore stood 

 on for Salonica and here our shooting ended." * 

 That the number of woodcocks in England, and 

 even in Ireland, has greatly decreased during the 

 last twenty years, I take to be a fact established 

 and admitted on all hands. The question that 

 arises is to what cause the diminution of the 

 species is to be ascribed. I think that from 

 the actual observations of Mr. Lloyd and Mr. 

 Matthews, to which I have already alluded, it 

 does not arise from the persecution of the 

 woodcock in his summer abode in the North 

 of Europe ; neither is it attributable to the num- 

 ber which fall to the gun of the sportsman in 

 these islands during the shooting season. But I 

 believe that such wholesale slaughter as that 

 which Colonel Parker describes on the shores of 



* The following extract from the journals will show the 

 result of six of the best days woodcock shooting. 



Woodcocks. 



f 



Two days at Butrinto .............................. | J 



Two days on the Fanara, or Acheron river ... < -^ 



c i fift 

 Two days on the Achelous river ............... \ ^ji 



Grand total of six days ............... 1026 



