232 WOODCOCK-SHOOTING. [CH. xiv. 



S 1 of C n, on the west coast of Ireland, was so fully im- 

 pressed with this opinion that he would not allow a gun to be fired 

 in his covers until after Christmas, asserting that not a bird would 

 then leave them before the regular period of migration, but merely, 

 when flushed, remove from one part of the woods to another. It 

 is hard to think that he reasoned incorrectly, for he had when I 

 was in his neighbourhood, and may have to this day for aught I 

 know to the contrary, nearly the best, if not undeniably the best, 

 woodcock-shooting in Ireland until the very end of the season. 

 This, too, is saying a "big word," for woodcock-shooting in the 

 emerald isle is the cream of sport. 



398. Now our spectacled acquaintance (394), capital sportsman 

 as he was, owed his numerous shots solely to his great pedestrian 

 powers, and the large development of his organ of locality. It is 

 sometimes difficult enough, even with a clever dog, to spring a jack 

 snipe, and you will not tell me that he (not master " Jack," but the 

 gentleman) would not have bagged mare birds, and have had to 

 walk over less ground, had he possessed as good an animal as that 

 which helped to destroy the Fort Adjutant's preserve. And do 

 you think that our friend with the barnacles, who was in no way of 

 a misanthropical disposition, would not thus have more enjoyed his 

 day's sport ? He might have been assured that birds, if they would 

 not lie for a good-nosed dog, who hunted as cautiously as the 

 officer's, would not lie for his walking them up. And if on a 

 boisterous day he chose to shoot down wind (as snipe fly against it), 

 why should he not call his companion in to " heel," and afterwards 

 employ him when re-hunting the same ground up-wind ? An ex- 

 perienced old dog, would rarely, however, when beating down-wind, 

 pass by many birds without noticing them. 



399. We often hear of sportsmen shooting against each other for 

 considerable sums in our best partridge-counties, where the game is 

 so abundant that they consider it most advisable to employ no dog, 

 save one or two retrievers. I at once admit that they act judiciously 

 in not hunting any ordinary animal, but I am confident that the 

 competitor who used such a cautious dog as the officer's (395), would 

 not only get more shots than his opponent, but be able to kill to 

 a greater certainty, because better prepared for every rise. The 

 quantity of game would not have confused that first-rate dog, his 

 nose was too discriminating. He would have walked quietly, 

 almost crept, up to every bird, and I will venture to say would 

 not have sprung one out of shot, that would not have risen as 

 readily had he been left in his kennel. In the match that came off 



in October, '50, at Lord L h's, R d Hall, between the Squire 



O n and Mr. C d, both good performers so many birds 



would not have been missed had the sportsmen been warned to look 

 out for most of their shots by a careful dog's drawing upon the 

 birds. Victory would have sided with the party thus aided. 



. 400. I said (398), " An experienced old dog would rarely, how- 

 ever, even when beating down-wind, pass by many birds without 

 noticing them : " and most fortunate is it that this is the case, for 



