My First Woodcock. 119 



which means I have bagged scores of birds, 

 which in all probability we should never have 

 seen again, for the woodcock is here to-day 

 and gone to-morrow. I fancy some of my 

 readers exclaiming, " Do tell me where this 

 'El dorado' is to be found;" but they must 

 wait till they hear the end. 



The next morning we devoted to snipe, there 

 being some very good ground close to the 

 house, and had a very pretty morning. We 

 could manage to kill these delicious little birds, 

 and succeeded in getting four couple and a 

 half up to lunch-time ; we then went off to beat 

 some beautiful dingles, and got three wood- 

 cock, half-a-dozen rabbits, and a hare. We 

 stopped there a week, and our bag at the end 

 of that time amounted to fourteen couple of 

 cock, eleven of snipe, two couple of teal and a 

 wild duck, six hares, and ten couple of rabbits. 

 No great bag, but enough to satisfy any 

 moderate sportsman. There was plenty of 

 ground to go over, indeed, I do not think we 

 went over any of it twice, except tor snipe. 

 There were a few grouse on the mountain, but 

 they were so wild they were not worth going 

 after ; but we saw some on several occasions. 



