Birds. 7635 



shot. T only got one specimen of the pine marten, and only on one 

 occasion did 1 see "spor" of the lynx; but, I am glad to say, the 

 elk is gradually more and more spreading over our forests. 



The woodcocks this year appeared to remain only a short time on 

 the coast when they landed, but hurried up to their breeding haunts 

 in the interior. A friend of mine, a keen sportsman, writes me word 

 from Gothenburg that never in any previous spring were so few cocks 

 killed there as in this. He only bagged four couple, instead of 

 eighteen to twenty couple — his usual number every spring. They 

 began to "road" with us about the second week in April; but when 

 they first come up they seem to fly about most in the mornings, just 

 at gray dawn. Now, however, they "road" regularly every evening, 

 and in a good stand I can always reckon on five or six shots any 

 night. I can't make out exactly what this " roading" is. I used to 

 fancy it was the birds flying backwards and forwards over the forests 

 to their feeding grounds ; but now I fancy it is a kind of love-chase, 

 at least in spring, for I observe that now they always fly in pairs after 

 each other, toying in the air, uttering their peculiar call-note, "Korp, 

 korp, kisseck, kisseck," and pass backwards and forwards over the 

 same spot every ten minutes. It is a pity to shoot them now, and 

 perhaps even more so later on in the season, when they have the young 

 bii'ds to provide for. Did any of your readers ever remark that a 

 cock will sometimes drop when you fire at it, even if not touched with 

 the shot? I have; and once, when I was loading, a cock passed 

 very low over my head; I flung up my cap at it, and it fell as if 

 shot. 



Most of us who are at all accustomed to wander much in the forests 

 are familiar with the prolonged mewing cry of the buzzard, and I 

 fancied this call-note was peculiar to that bird ; but one morning 

 early in April I heard the same mewing cry from a tree in our garden, 

 and upon creeping cautiously up, to my great surprise I found it was 

 uttered by a ja}'. I have since remarked the same call, which has 

 much deceived me, so exactly resembling the note of the buzzard, 

 for never before did I hear the jay utter any other note than its usual 

 discordant screech ; I fancy this must have been the love-call. 



Up to this it has been a very bad season for capercally, at least for 

 the poachers who shoot them in the spring. They have displayed 

 very badly in the mornings, I fancy, owing to the frosts, and I have 

 not heard of more than about four being killed near us. This is lucky, 

 and augurs well for the breed of the ensuing year, for it is not of so 

 much consequence shooting the old cocks if they are only spared (ill 

 May. 



