570 ORNITHOLOGICAL SKETCHES 
the village, one of these birds sounded its call quite uncon- 
cernedly early in the morning during the last days of 
September. 
I will conclude by devoting a few words to the Wood- 
cock. When I arrived at Gérgény on the 21st of September 
the keepers reported that they had only seen one or two 
Cock, and during the first days of our stay we found but 
one while beating the lower woods, which seemed to be 
quite shunned by the “longbills,” although better-looking 
places for them could not be imagined. In the main valley, 
however, there was a not very extensive stretch of damp 
pastures studded with birch and alder bushes, which did 
not form regular thickets, but were separated from each 
other by bits of open meadow. On ground with such 
scanty cover no sportsman would ever look for Woodcock, 
yet on the 23rd of September the keepers reported that they 
had seen some there, and when we went out next day we 
found a good many within a small area—at least forty 
of them and a few Common Snipe. They had been driven 
down from the mountains by the inclement weather ; and as 
it grew still colder and more autumnal we again went out 
on the Ist of October and found our expectations realized, 
for we certainly met with far more than a hundred Cock 
on a small piece of ground; but there were only two or three 
Snipe. On the following day the Cock were still more 
plentiful ; but we could only shoot in the morning, as I had 
to leave that neighbourhood at noon. 
It was interesting to see how, before we began shooting, 
these Woodcock districts were always surrounded by low- 
circling birds of prey, which there found an easy booty. 
Besides Goshawks, Falcons, and Larger and Smaller Spotted 
Eagles, I saw a “Stein” Hagle diligently quartering the 
ground, and one Larger Spotted Eagle was even foolish 
