6 WOODCOCKS 



islands in certain fresh-water lakes in Caithness, Suther- 

 land, and the Western Isles. The home-reared birds, 

 however, form but a very small contingent in the great 

 flocks which stream down from northern latitudes on the 

 approach of winter. 



Ill 



Among the satisfactory results of the various Wild 

 Birds Preservation Acts which have been in- 

 scribed on the Statute Book from 1880 onwards, 

 may be reckoned a marked increase in the number of 

 woodcocks which rear their young in the British Isles. 

 Previous to 1880 these beautiful and interesting migrants 

 enjoyed no legal protection ; they might be shot or netted 

 at all times of the year. One of the tenderest points in 

 my own conscience is that which preserves the memory 

 of many days spent during the Easter school holidays in 

 pursuit of woodcocks. But the Act of 1880 provided a 

 close time extending from March 2 to July 31, in conse- 

 quence of which the number of nesting pairs of woodcock 

 has increased annually ever since. 



This has made apparent the inadequacy of the present 

 close season. Five-and-twenty years ago it was an un- 

 common thing to hear of a woodcock being shot before 

 the winter nights began to arrive in October. Last year, 

 1905, 1 read in the Field newspaper of the destruction of 

 many couples in the month of August on a moor in 

 Perthshire by a gentleman who evidently thought he had 

 done something worth recording. But what were these 

 woodcocks? Immature birds which had not attained 

 their full powers of flight, and which any intelligent 

 sportsman would be ashamed of shooting. This is a case 



