WOODCOCK IN IRELAND 217 



a lad from a neighbouring cabin, who had been looking on from 

 a distance, suddenly rushed up in violent excitement to one 

 of the guns posted on the road, and pointed with great glee at 

 two men of the Royal Irish Constabulary who were just emerg- 

 ing from the mist. Intense longing written in his face, the 

 boy exclaimed in an imploring whisper, "Have-at-em, Sorr! 

 Have-at-em, Sorr!!" So glorious an opportunity of bagging 

 two of the police to be thrown away was surely very hard and 

 no doubt a great blow to this Irish youth, who retired dis- 

 appointed and took no further interest in so low a form of 

 sport as woodcock shooting. In former days a good many 

 individuals, objectionable to others, were removed in this part 

 of the country not perhaps in the most "sporting" manner, 

 but by stalking the game in the evening when alone and beyond 

 help from behind walls, banks, or hedges. The houses of the 

 victims now stand empty and fall rapidly to ruin ; no one will 

 live in them, as the restless ghosts of the murdered are known 

 to visit their former abodes at night, naturally provided with 

 lights to avoid sharp corners no doubt, and rotten floors. 

 Tenantless they are, and tenantless they will remain, memorials 

 of a time when landlord-shooting was considered the king of 

 sports. 



Nothing can compare with woodcock shooting if the birds 

 are plentiful. When lying out in the open heather, or low 

 scrub on the mountain or plain, as they do in warm weather, 

 they are easy enough to hit; but it is a very different affair 

 if cock are flushed in thick and high coverts such as larch, 

 when they dart swiftly across the ride, unseen until high over 

 the gunner's head; or when rising in the more open woods, 

 among oak, birch or beech, laurels and holly, they flit and 

 zigzag about, and generally succeed in putting the first tree 

 between themselves and the gun. Shoot, however, and quickly, 

 it does not matter through how many trees, a pellet or two 

 may reach the bird, and it is easily killed. If you don't, the 

 bag at the end of the day will be light indeed. 



It seems marvellous how quickly a woodcock is on the wing 

 and at full speed, twisting and turning about in a most be- 

 wildering manner, among trees and foliage, however thick. 

 Its agility becomes more easily understood if we weigh the 

 bird and measure the spread of his great wings. The former 



