The late Mr. Thompson, after recording, in his ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ numerous instances o f the
birds breeding in that country, remarks, “ In the years 1847, 1848, and 1849, Woodcocks bred abundantly
in Tollymore Park, not less than thirty nests having been seen each year ; and they have now become so
common-place as to be comparatively but little noticed.”
With all this testimony as to the bird’s breeding in various parts o f the British Islands, does it not become
necessary that we should bestow upon it all the protection in our power ? and should not the Legislature
lend its aid towards this end ? Are we not all alike interested in the preservation of so fine a bird ? Would
it not be more rational to do so than to pay so much attention to the introduction o f foreign species, with a
view to their acclimatization, with far less likelihood of any good result? Nay, are we not “ killing the
goose that lays the golden egg ” when every scamp who can borrow a gun is permitted to shoot these birds
in their evening flights, or “ roadings,” during the months o f March and April ? I sincerely trust that, if
this bird be not hereafter reckoned among the species designated game, it may be deemed advisable to pass
a law inflicting a heavy penalty for every Woodcock killed between the 1st of February and the 12th of
August. Were ordinary protection afforded to the bird, I see no reason why it should not become vastly
more numerous than it is at present. Every sportsman is ‘aware that during the last fortnight in January
the Woodcocks are found in pairs—mated in fact for the coming task o f reproduction—that its skin is then
scurfy, its flesh strong, very inferior in flavour, and comparatively unfit for the table.
I now come to a part o f the history of the Woodcock, which has been a stumbling-block to all sportsmen
and ornithologists—whether there be any outward difference in the plumage by which the sexes may with
certainty be determined, and why so much variation occurs in their size, weight, and measurements.
To these points I have paid much attention .during a long life, and with a view to their elucidation have
carefully examined hundreds of examples killed by others, as well as those that have fallen to my own gun,
which have not been few. Many o f these I have dissected, measured, and weighed the moment after they
were killed; - and I must admit that a t the end of a day’s shooting I am still unable to say with certainty, from
their size or plumage, which are males and which females : this partly arises from the circumstance o f there
being two distinct races frequently intermingled in the same coverts. Such races occur among many o f our
birds, but have no specific value. During their vernal migration these races generally keep separate from
each other, and some flights will be composed of a small red racé, while others willMbe exclusively large
dark-grey birds. In the case of the common Snipe, I have ascertained that the male is undoubtedly the
larger bird ; and if there be any difference between the sexes o f the Woodcock, I believe it will be the same as in
that bird ; at the same time I must remark that dissection has proved that many o f the large and long-billed
birds are females. Some, sportsmen assert that they can distinguish the sexes by an examination o f the
outer primary, and affirm that those birds which have the external margin o f that feather plain or devoid of
tooth-like markings are males, and those in which they exist are females. But they are absent in both sexes
o f very old birds ; for I have wings o f females in my collection in which the outer margin o f the first
primary is totally devoid of the toothed character. When the young Woodcock assumes his first primaries,
which he does a t the age of two or three weeks, the outer feather is strongly marked ; as he grows older
this feature gradually disappears ; and I have frequently seen specimens with the outer primary toothed for
half its length, and the other p art plain. • :
Some English counties are less adapted to the habits of the. Woodcock than others ; and their continuance
in those best suited to them depends greatly upon the non-disturbance o f the coverts in which they
have settled themselves, from the date o f their arrival in November to the end o f the shooting-season.
Inclement and frosty weather will induce the birds to remove from one locality to another, and even to
quit a district ; but they will again return at the first favourable opportunity. In the charming park at
Ckillingham in Northumberland, Woodcocks are sufficiently numerous in the early part o f the season to
satisfy its noble and excellent owner ; I believe, however, the bags are never very extraordinary ; still thirty
or forty Cocks may sometimes be laid upon the grass at the end o f a November day’s shooting ; a t least,
so I was told by the Earl o f Tankerville during a pleasant visit I paid to his border Castle. The number
o f Cocks at Hawkstone varies considerably, twenty or thirty being generally the result o f a day’s sport when
the covers are shot. To this beautiful seat I have for the last thirty years been most kindly favoured
with an invitation, to shoot over some o f the best beats ; and I would here express my obligations to Lord
Hill for his unvaried kindness. As an evidence th at Norfolk, so abundantly supplied with game, is not
wanting in coverts favourable to the Woodcock, I shall quote a line from the ‘ Zoologist,’ in which it is
stated, that in Lord Hastings’s woods at Melton Constable, near Holt, in the first week of December 1852,
30 and 33 were respectively killed on two successive days, and 93 on the third, in the Great Wood in the
adjoining parish of Swanton Novers, and at least 110 might have been killed if other game had been
disregarded. I believe it will be conceded th at from this county, through the eastern and southern portions
of England, the Woodcock becomes less numerous, and it is not until we reach the western counties of
Devonshire and Cornwall that we again meet with it in any great abundance. In these humid and comparatively
warm districts the Woodcocks find a congenial winter home ; for there the springs are always
flowing, the fields green, and the fallows rarely frozen, however severe the winter may be elsewhere. Still
such large bags are seldom obtained as are made in other parts of England, Wales, and Ireland—the
reason being that 'the woods 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 o f Cornwall, for there many charming little rushy bottoms exist, across
which a Cock may be killed a t the widest part. I t is here that the bird suffers, and it is in such little
winding gullies between the hills that I have found some o f the pleasantest Cock-shooting I have ever had.
Now, although the bags made in Cornwall contain fewer birds a t the end o f 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 b eaters; 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 Jan u ary ; and as they remain in a state o f quietude during the other eleven months
o f 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 th ir ty ; when to these are added three or four times as many wild-bred Pheasants, a fair sprinkling
o f Snipes and ground-game, with now and then a Teal and a Mallard, sufficient sport is afforded to
gratify the appetite o f every man who may consider himself a sportsman.
In Wales the Cock-shooting approaches somewhat that o f 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
o f the sedgy, boggy bottoms o f Cornwall and the thorny hillsides of W ales; 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 p ages; 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 o f Captaiu Herbert, Lord Elcho, Mr. Balfour, General Grey, and Colonel Long, killed 908,
the average number o f guns during ten o f these days being fo u r; on the ninth, 110 were counted from the
bag a t the end o f the day.
The following table gives the weight and the length o f 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 o f the country,
taken without any particular selection, and is given to show the comparative weight and size of the sex es:—
. M a l e . F e r ia l e .
length from
carpal joint to
end of first
primary.
Extent of
outspread wings. Weight. Locality.
Length from
carpal joint to
end of first
primary.
Extent of
outspread wings. Weight. Locality.
1
. inches. rnohes. ounces.
12* Tregothnan, Jan. 1
inches.
7*
ounces.
7* 12 Tregothnan, Jan. 2 7* 10*
7f 23 12f Somerleyton, Dec. 8 6* Small race. 9f
4 7*
Length from tip
of bill to end oi
tail 13* inches.
12f Somerleyton, Dec. 4 7f I l f Tregothnan.
b 7f ! 13* Somerleyton, Dec.
Tregothnan, Jan.
5 n 23 inches. 12f
7f 12* 6 6f 11* Somerleyton.
12 J ardine Hall, Nov. 7
8 7f 12 Jardine Hall. 8 7f I l f
7f I l f Tregothnan, Jan. 9 7f 10*
11 •7f I l f Tregothnan, Jan. 10 71 11 ’
12
. 7
6*
Very fat bird,
small race.
Small race.
lOf
9
Unknown.
Unknown.
11
12
7f
7f 23 inches.
11*
13*
Tregothnan, Jan.
Tregothnan, Jan.; a
very long hill, length
3 inches; plumage
very light.
89 142f 87* 135
I t will be seen that the wings o f the 12 males, measured as above stated, amount to 89 inches, and their
weight to 142f ounces, while the wings of the females are 87* inches, and their weight 135 ounces ; consequently
that the excess o f the length o f the wing in the 12 males is I f inches, and o f their weight 7 f 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 o f the under surface of the body more distinct; much difference also