DISTRIBUTION. 49 



southern and western than in the northern and 

 eastern counties, more plentiful in Cornwall and 

 in Devonshire than in any other part of England ; 

 and as the western migration continues, under the 

 influence of severe weather and protracted frosts, 

 they abound in Ireland at the very period when 

 they have almost disappeared from their usual 

 haunts in this country, as was especially exempli- 

 fied last year, 1849. In the early part of the 

 season there was a fair sprinkling in a great wood 

 of West Sussex, where they were suffered to 

 remain undisturbed till a later period, when the 

 covers were to be beaten for pheasants and hares. 

 In the meantime a hard frost set in ; the ground 

 was covered with snow, the brooks and springs 

 were frozen up, and at the termination of the 

 grand day on which it was expected that we 

 should bag at least twenty woodcocks, a solitary 

 emaciated individual was to be seen at the end of 

 a long row of pheasants. About the same time 

 I received a letter from a friend in the county of 

 Galway, informing me that the woodcock-shoot- 

 ing in the west of Ireland was better at that 

 very moment than it had been for many pre- 

 ceding years. 



It is almost unnecessary to remark that the 

 sister island has long been famous for affording 

 this sport in perfection. Indeed, my own earliest 



D 



