WOODCOCK SHOOTING 
in his accompanying letter he says: “This list of marked birds includes 
only such as I have been able to authenticate by actually obtaining 
the ring; and I have not included a good many heard of through such 
channels as game dealers’ shops. On the whole it always seems to me 
that the percentage of marked birds that have been heard of again 
is extraordinarily high, considering the large number that undoubtedly 
die in a dry summer, and the fact that a certain number of marked birds 
are shot by people who do not think it worth the trouble to inquire where 
they come from. 
“ There are two points with regard to this record that I should like to 
mention : 
“ (1) That, practically speaking, no Alnwick marked ’cock have been 
got north of here ; i.e., that these birds are breeding in the northernmost 
part of the range of these individual woodcock. 
“ (2) That a considerable number of home-bred woodcock are abso- 
lutely stationary, as they are to be found here in every month from 
September to February. I mean the birds bred here. 
Advent of foreigners. This generally occurs between November 5 and 
November 12, and that flight is almost always succeeded by a larger one 
about the end of the month. I once saw them come the second week in 
January. 
Nesting. The number of nests is certainly increasing year by year, 
and I feel sure it would do so more rapidly if the close time began 
February 1, as I feel confident that most of the woodcock shot in North- 
umberland in February would nest here if left alone. The number of nests 
now is about 100 in the park here. Some years when there have been a 
great number of nests, we have been unlucky in catching the young ones. 
“We generally shoot about 150 here every season, but they are hardly 
ever shot by anyone except myself, and I am rarely here at the right time.’’ 
“ The following are [the best bags : — 
1906. 
Nov. 30 . 
2 guns . 
30 woodcock. 
Dec. 
18 . 
1 gun . 
25 
9 1 
1908. 
Dec. 
17 . 
2 guns . 
52 
’’ 
Lord W. Percy. 
Mr H. Stobart. 
1909. 
Dec. 
.10 . 
2 guns . 
30 
1910. 
Dec. 
7 . 
2 guns . 
53 
.. i 
Hon. G. Legge. 
Lord W. Percy. 
1910. 
Jan. 
24 . 
1 gun . 
31 
9 9 
Dec. 
13 . 
2 guns . 
33 
99 
251 
