flowing', the fields green, and the fallows rarely frozen, however severe the winter may he elsewhere. Still 
such large bags are seldom obtained as are made in otber parts , of England, Wales, and Ireland — the 
reason being that the \voods are not so extensive, and the coverts, where large, so dense that no man 
with a gun can penetrate them. If the Cocks are got to rise, they pitch again without breaking cover ; not 
so, however, in some parts of Cornwall, for there many charming little rushy bottoms exist, across 
whicb a Cock may be killed at the widest part. It is here that the bird suffers, and it is in such little 
winding gullies between the hills that I have found some of the pleasantest Cock-shooting I have ever had. 
Now, although the bags made in Cornwall contain fewer birds at the end of the day than in some other 
counties, the deficiency is not due to the birds being less numerous, but to their favourite woods and 
gullies being often >more inaccessible to the beaters ; so difficult to traverse, indeed, are they, that I 
question if any but a Cornish man would survive a second day’s toil, if he were not irrecoverably lost among 
the high tussocky grasses during the first. Such severe work for men I have never witnessed ; and dogs 
appear to be useless ; hence in a county so frequently intersected with localities of this description as 
Cornwall is, a great number of Cocks live in a comparatively small area. At Tregothnan the covers 
are seldom shot until January; and as they remain in a state of quietude during the other eleven months 
of the year, the shooting is then most enjoyable. On some of his twenty beats Lord Falmouth frequently 
shows his friends more than a hundred rises in a day. The Cocks killed, however, seldom amount to 
more than thirty ; when to these are added three or four times as many wild-bred Pheasants, a fair sprinkling 
of Snipes and ground-game, with now and then a Teal and a Mallard, sufficient sport is afforded to 
gratify the appetite of every man who may consider himself a sportsman. 
In Wales the Cock-shooting approaches somewhat that of Cornwall ; but the ground is more stony, and 
the walking consequently more difficult. Here the little cocker spaniels are more generally used ; for the 
dog beats the man in rounding the boulder stones on the hillsides, and easily threads the thorny thickets 
through which the beater cannot get. In Scotland heathy valleys, fir- and larch-plantations take the place 
of the sedgy, boggy bottoms of Cornwall and the thorny hillsides of Wales ; there and in the Western 
Islands Woodcocks afford less sport than in the counties further south. Here in the north it is the Grouse 
and black game which demand the attention of the sportsman, who scarcely cares to raise his gun at the 
M^oodcock. Ireland, on the other hand, is a country especially adapted for the bird to Avinter in ; and to 
give an account of the sport enjoyed there would fill many folio pages ; but as I have said a few words on 
Cock-shooting in England and Scotland, I cannot omit stating that the Muckross party in January 1863, 
consisting of Captain Herbert, Lord Elcho, Mr. Balfour, General Grey, and Colonel Long, killed 908, 
the average number of guns during ten of these days being four ; on the ninth, 110 vA'ere counted from the 
bag at the end of the day. 
The following table gives the weight and the length of wing, from the shoulder or carpal joint to the tip 
of the first primary, of twelve male and twelve female mature Woodcocks from various parts of the country, 
taken without any particular selection, and is given to show the comparative weight and size of the sexes: — - 
Male. 
Uemale. 
Length, from 
Length from 
carpal joint to 
Extent of 
Weight. 
Locality. 
carpal joint to 
Extent of 
Weight. 
Locality. 
end of first 
outspread wings. 
end of first 
outspread mngs. 
primary. 
primary. 
inches. 
inches. 
ounces. 
inches. 
ounces. 
1 
n 
23 
12i 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
1 
7 JL 
t 8 
• • • 
lOi 
2 
n 
12 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
2 
Vi 
• • • 
lOi 
Jardine Hall, Nov. 
3 
VI 
23 
12f 
Somerleyton, I)ec. 
3 
6 | 
Small race. 
9f 
Tregothnan. 
Length from tip 
of bill to end of 
tail 13i inches. 
* 
4 
Vi 
12f 
Somerleyton, Dec. 
4 
73 
Ilf 
Tregothnan. 
6 
V|! 
13i 
Somerleyton, Dec. 
6 
VI 
23 inches. 
12f 
Tregothnan. 
6 
73. 
12i 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
6 
6 | 
Ilf 
Somerleyton. 
7 
Vi 
12 
J ar dine Hall, N ov. 
V 
7.3 
104 
8 
Vf 
12 
Jardine HaU. 
8 
73 
Ilf 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
9 
VI 
Ilf 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
9 
73 
• 8 
104 
Tregothnan, Jan. 14. 
10 
Vf 
Ilf 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
10 
73. 
11 
11 
7 
Very fat bird, 
11 
7 i 
Hi 
Tregothnan, Jan. 
small race. 
lOf 
Unknown. 
12 
6| 
Small race. 
9 
Unknown. 
12 
7-3- - 
23 inches. 
134 
Tregothnan, Jan. ; a 
very long bill, length 
89 
142f 
87i 
135 
3 inches ; plumage 
very light. 
It will be seen that the wings of the 12 males, measured as above stated, amount to 89 inches, and their 
weight to 142| ounces, while the wings of the females are 87i inches, and their weight 135 ounces ; con- 
sequently that the excess of the length of the wing in the 12 males is 1| inches, and of their Aveight 7| ounces. 
I believe the males have generally the shorter bill, the longer wing, and the finer tail, while the rump of 
this sex is more red and the barrings of the under surface of the body more distinct ; much difference also 
