46 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



the Mediterranean is the chief cause of the birds 

 being drained off from other quarters. The tem- 

 perate climate of the southern countries of Eu- 

 rope will always afford strong attractions for the 

 woodcock whose food is so essentially derived 

 from moist and marshy ground during the winter 

 months, at which period, in the inhospitable, 

 regions of the north, the snow-clad earth and 

 ice-covered waters bid defiance to the efforts of 

 his slender bill ; and when arrived on those shores 

 his further progress is possibly arrested by the 

 philosophical reflection that having already at- 

 tained a sufficient supply of food he might 

 ' go further and fare worse ;' which would cer- 

 tainly be the case should he adventure himself 

 towards the interior of Africa ! Although wood- 

 cocks have no doubt been occasionally found in 

 Barbary and in Egypt, I think we are not to infer 

 that they are by any means common in those 

 countries ; but on the coasts of the Morea, Thes- 

 saly, Macedonia, and Albania, at Athens, and 

 in many parts of Italy, we know that they 

 abound, and indeed they appear to be concentrated 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean during the 

 winter months. Here they might probably be 

 exposed to but little danger from the natives; 

 but if our own countrymen, with all that ardour 

 which characterizes an English sportsman, should 



