File:Nature and sport in Britain (1904) (14751589115).jpg

Identifier: naturesportinbri00bryd (find matches)
Title: Nature and sport in Britain
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Bryden, H. A. (Henry Anderson), 1854-1937
Subjects: Horses Game and game-birds Hunting
Publisher: London : G. Richards
Contributing Library: Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine
Digitizing Sponsor: Tufts University

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ith the greatest easeand killing and devouring them by scores. In thisway alone hundreds of woodcock must have been un-timely slain during that unexampled frost. Our ancestors, armed only with the old flint-and-steelweapon, made very good bags with this bird. In 1796Mr. Yea, of Swansea, killed a hundred couple in oneseason. The Earl of Clermont, about the same period,for a bet of 300 guineas, killed in one day fifty-onecouple of cock, and could no doubt have shot manymore, as he had won his bet before three oclock. TheEarl picked his own day, and there must have been agreat flight of cock, as at that time, near Ballyshannon,Donegal, the birds were selling for a penny apiece,plus the cost of powder and shot. To the averageshooter these phenomenal bags of cock are of courseunknown. The addition of two or three couple of thesemuch-prized birds to the bag is, in the case of 95 percent, of English shooting-parties, matter of keen con-gratulation, even in a part of the country where cock 72
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HC o HO o oou GO o ao J THE COMING OF THE WOODCOCK are known at times to be found. Who can ever forgetthe first cock which, wavering shadow-like through thetrees and thicket, fell one hardly knew how, to his snapshot? Who can, even after years of shooting, hearwithout a thrill the cry of Mark cock ! as it resoundsamid the copses? I am inclined to think that the actual difficulty ofkilling cock has been overrated. The thick covertamid which the bird so often rises, and the impossibilityof getting anything like a fair shot at him, is, I think,chiefly answerable for the number of misses with thisgame. Over-anxiety, too, or flurry, have much to dowith the want of success. On the west coast ofScotland, where cock are shot much more frequentlyupon open ground, the percentage of misses is notextravagant. But in covert you never know when orwhere the long-billed bird will rise. He may beflushed from the gnarled roots of old trees, or be beatenfrom a bit of wild holly—a very favourite sittin

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