flowing, the fields green, and the fallows rare
such large bags are seldom obtained
reason being that the woods ar

ly frozen, however severe the w
as are made in other
€ not so extensive, and the ¢
with a gun can penetrate them. e Cocks are o 1 i

g I If the Cocks are got to rise, they pitch
so, however, in some parts of Cornwall, for there m
which a Cock may be killed at the widest part.
winding gullies between the hills that I have found some of the
Now, although the bags made in Cornwall contain fewer birds
counties, the deficiency is not due to the bir

inter may be elsewhere. Still
parts of England, Wales, and Ireland—the
overts, where large, so dense that no man
again without breaking cover ; not
any charming little r

ushy bottoms exist, across
It is here that the

bird suffers, and it is in such little
pleasantest Cock-shooting I have ever had.
at the end of the day than in some other
less humerous, but to their favourite woods and
so difficult to traverse, indeed, are they, that I
vive a second day’s toil, if he were
Such severe work for men I hay

ds being
gullies being often more inaccessible to the beaters ;
question if any but a Cornish man would sur
the high tussocky grasses during the first.

appear to be useless; hence in a county

not irrecoverably lost among
e never witnessed; and dogs
so frequently intersected with localities of this description as
Cornwall is, a great number of Cocks live ina 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 ina 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 Cor

nwall; 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
Woodcock. Ireland, on the other hand, is a country especially adapted for the bird to winter 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 were 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 FEMALE.
Length from
al} are al joint t Extent of ae re
een aee| Dnt t eee o 2 Weight. Locality. ae haere Airs d wings. Weight. Locality.
ea outspread wings. See
inches. ounces.
inches. inches. ounces. tole a
3 124 | Tregothnan, Jan. | 1 4 i
j 77 i 12° Tregothnan, Jan. || 2 74 Se 103 Jardine Hall, Noy.
3 78 3h. 123 | Somerleyton, Dec.| 3 64 Small race. 92 | Tregothnan.
Length from tip
of bill to end of
tail 13+ inches. 11g | Teeottnan’
23 | Somerleyton, Dec. 4 72 ae
5 i esi. a Sceneatevtont Dec.| 5 72 23 inches. sa ie ea
6 73 124 Tregothnan, Jan. || 6 6g eeoue 10 omerleyton.
i HI 12 Jardine Hall, Nov.) 7 a : i Piece en
8 72 12 | Jardine Hall. 8 : 104 | Teco cele
9 73 113 ‘Tregothnan, Jan. 9 i 11 5D
10 73 as ies 112 | Tregothnan, Jan. i A sa etveoseen cee
Ib (i Very fat bird,
cml ae a Uae 12 72 23 inches. 184 | Tregothnan, Jan.; a
ma 65 Soc eee : a es very long bill, length
874 135 3 inches; plumage
89 ee very light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

e Ww y i h es and heir
It wil I 2 measul ed as above stated, amount to 89 nC 3 {
1 l be seen that the Ings of the 12 males, l

. 5 females are 87% inches, and their weight 135 ounces; con-
weight to 1422 ounces, while the wings of the females
> ’