arrived 'cock, and by trying all such cover quite a respectable bag may sometimes be picked up. When a single woodcock is seen early in the season—or indeed at any other time-it should always be assumed that others are in the vicinity, and the assumption usually proves to be well founded. Let it be acted on immediately: a good little day may be had without disturbing a yard of the coverts. Woodcock are like time and tide, in that they wait for no man. While a potter round on one day would have brought eight or ten couple of 'cock to the bag, the following day may disclose the fact that every bird has left the district.

Just a word on the question of following a woodcock that has been marked down when the gun is alone or has only a companion or two. If one walks straight at the bird, it is more likely than not to rise wild. When by one's self, a wide détour should be made, and the bird approached from the opposite direction. Even a bird which has risen very wild when flushed the first time will often give a good shot when the gunner works round in this manner. A 'cock which has pitched within a few hundred yards of the point at which it was flushed will generally edge away from that point, sometimes very quickly. The moral of this is that the gunner should make such a

détour as will bring him well beyond the spot whereon the bird has alighted, and that his movements should be as speedy as possible. No doubt the reason why a woodcock will lie better when a détour is made is that, whether it has been shot at or not, it keeps its attention fixed for some time upon the direction from which the gunner would come if he followed straight on, expects him so to follow, and when it becomes aware that someone is approaching from the opposite direction it imagines itself to be between two fires, loses its head, and squats till too late for its own safety. Never fail to deal with a 'cock that has been marked down for the first time the moment it has settled; never fail to approach it as quietly as possible. When put up for the second time and again marked down-the gunner being by himself-it is better to leave the bird alone then and to try for it later in the day; for if one follows on at once, it will almost certainly rise quite out of shot and is very likely to disappear for good and all. If you have a companion, when a woodcock has been marked down. near at hand let your companion keep up a continuous rattling or whistling while you make a détour and walk up the bird towards him: when a bird has been marked down at a distance, let one gun walk quickly to within five or six gunshots of the spot and remain

there whistling or rattling while the other gun, having made his détour, walks up the bird.

The local movements of woodcock-movements, that is, within our own shores-are subject to no known law the birds move from one locality to another, but no one can say exactly why they do so. If anything in the nature of a law is to be discerned it is that 'cock seem to move more freely in heavy, misty weather than in bright or windy weather. In writing the foregoing, I have not considered frost in connection with the question of law. Frost will cause birds scattered over high bleak country to seek warmer quarters in lower and more sheltered country, there being then a concentration of their numbers in the warmest parts of the warmer district. But not always only as a general rule. Heavy gales will again not always,

cause the same effect-but here

only as a general rule. Though, frost and gales apart, we find no shred of a law governing the movements of woodcock from a general point of view, we are able to find more or less of law in the attractions of pure locality for the birds under certain and widely varying conditions of weather and temperature. It is not in any way to be taken as a law proper, but merely as something certainly worth going upon in every small district. If in any given small

district 'cock suddenly appear, let careful note be made of the weather at the time, and of the weather of the past few days. It may be that the 'cock have appeared on a good west wind following a week of still settled weather with a mere breeze from the south; it may be that they have appeared with still, frosty weather following a spell of south wind. Whatever the weather at the time and the weather of a few days before may have been, 'cock are more likely to appear again in that district under similar meteorological conditions, and a sharp look out for them should then be kept. Local observation in this matter is worth more than all the generalities that have ever been written as to when and why woodcock may be expected. Generalities are good as generalities only, but local notes serve a local sportsman in very much better part.

The record bag of woodcock, I believe, is that already mentioned as having been made by Lord Ardilaun in January 1895, when a party of eight guns killed 508 'cock in one day. From these same coverts 106 'cock were killed in one day in 1878; in 1879 two days yielded bags of 117 and 115 birds respectively; in 1880 a head of 165 was bagged in one day, while in 1899 a day's bag amounted to 168 head. These, of course, are highly exceptional

figures, even for Ireland. A century ago, in County Cavan, Lord Clermont killed 102 'cock to his own gun, a flint-lock, in a single day. This was done for a wager—a wager of three hundred guineas that he would account for fifty couple of woodcock between dawn and dark. He began the first thing in the morning, and by breakfast time had only killed a few birds and missed many; but, making a fresh start after breakfast, succeeded in bagging one couple more than the stipulated number by between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. He picked his day for the test, this being agreed upon when the bet was made. The islands on the west coast of Scotland afford splendid woodcock shooting from time to time. In Raasay, an island lying between Skye and the Scottish coast, two guns killed over 900 head in the season 1885-6. Good bags are made in Wales. Norfolk is the best English county for woodcock, and Melton Constable-though Holkham, Sandringham and Sheringham run it very close-is the best 'cock manor in the county. Over fifty couple of 'cock have been killed in the day at Melton Constable.