238 
SCOLOPACID^. 
island is destitute of wood. They were remarkably scarce in the 
winter of 1833-34^ and had not been plentiful in the two 
preceding years.* 
Mr. G. Jackson (gamekeeper to the Earl of Bantry at Glen- 
gariff for the last ten years) states^ that on the woodcocks^ arrival 
from their northern breeding-places they are always seen first on 
the very western shores. He has invariably found them near 
Dursey Island some days before they appeared inland. This fact 
is well known to sportsmen living on the western coast of Ireland. 
In the south-west of England likewise — in Devon and Cornwall — 
woodcocks are said to appear on their autumnal flight long before 
they are seen on the north of that country.! 
Many kinds of birds are driven, by severe weather, from Scot- 
land across the Channel to the north of Ireland, and, among 
others, the woodcock. MTien there is an appearance of a con- 
tinued frost or snow, it is commonly remarked by sportsmen that 
we shall have woodcocks from Scotland. During the great snow- 
storm in the spring of 1827, I had fair evidence of the truth of 
this remark. In beatiug some covers in the neighbourhood of 
Belfast that had been most carefully gone over the day before 
without a woodcock being sprung, these birds were met with 
in unusual numbers ; and, from what I know of the habits of 
the species, in connexion with the locality and the state of 
the weather, I should certainly say they were not supplied 
from other quarters in Ireland. The atmosphere (it may be 
remarked, though without any reference to the woodcock) was in a 
most singularly humid state that day, so much so as to render the 
killed : they remained for two or three days. Mr. Wilkinson, jun., British Vice- 
Consul at Syra, stated to me when there, that woodcocks are never seen in that 
island in autumn when the wind is southerly ; they appear from October to December 
(but stop only for a day ) in great numbers, fifteen to twenty brace being often 
killed by one person in a forenoon. A gentleman residing at Berlin has remarked 
to me, that woodcocks are never found there in winter, and a friend at Giessen, 
that they appear in numbers in INIarch on their northward migration. 
* Some remarks on this subject will be found in the ‘ Wild Sports of the West,’ 
p. 298-802; edit. 1838. 
t Selby, vol. ii, p. 108. 
