nuiy, well-wooded and watered regions all over the Empire as
fa. south as Ceylon on the one hand, and Tavoy (at least and
probably much further) on the other 7 1 a d
It docs not appear to be common in Ceylon but has been
the NilgirisJ and on ^ r t i^of ^ S ^ ^
brought in for sale t A. 5. Hume. o Simla, one man sometimes bringing in three or four,"—•
" The Woodcock is rather cnmmra in the Upper Sutlcj valley in the forests of
the lesser ranges between four thousand and ten thousand fret ; it breeds at and above
Chini, and I think I have also seen it in Western Thibet."~F. Stoliczha.
" I have killed many in the lower valleys below Mussoorec during the cold season,
and a few in the Dun, in the Siwaliks, and I once bagged five in a single morning
along the Lat-ka-paui below Alrnorah."—A. O. Ilmta.
" They are to be seen in summer in considerable numbers in all the higher hills
north of Mussoorce, where they breed near the snows. T have repeatedly seen their
nests and eggs in former times. Later in the year they descend into the lower
valleys, and may occasionally be shot anywhere in suitable places, right down to the
plains."—Freda ick Wilson.
" I took the ncsl, as mentioned in my paper, on the 2nd of July, in Kumaon
near Kemo, elevation 10,000 to 11,000 feet, which is opposite the Namick Salt
Springs."•—A. Anderson.
"Common in Kumaun, resorting to the lower hills and valleys in the cold season.
In May 1 have seen a Woodcock and a Moonal on the wing at the same time."' —L. H. Irby.
" In June 1855 I got a Woodcock, with ncsl and eggs, in Nepal at about 11.000
feet elevation. It is usual to find the breeding bird-, further up and more out of the
influence of the tropical rains in scrub rhododendron. I never before got one so
near rain or the central region."—B. Hodgson.
"The Woodcock arrives in the valley of Nepal early in November, and leaves at
the end of February. It frequents most nf the small woods in the central part of the
valley, and may be found along the" foot of the hills, where damp thin tree forest
occurs, Its favourite haunts are the buggy bits of ground at the edge of woods, and
in such a spot I shot a Woodcock in the Residency grounds within a few yards of
some houses. It is not at all common in the valley, and can only be obtained by
hard work and with the aid of many beaters "—y. Scully.
"The Woodcock breeds in the higher hills in Native Sikhim where my hunters
have shot them in summer, though they have as yet failed to secure the eggs. During
the winter they are not very rare in the lower valleys, and many specimens have been
brought me. They go down right to the plains. I have had two or three killed in
the Terai and one in the Bhutan Dnars.1'—L. MandeHi.
" I myself saw them regularly every evening at Rinchmgpoon, in Sikhim, in
November 1800."—R. C. Heavan.
* " Woodcock are pretty common in the Assamboo Hills, but only at the highest
elevations from November to March."—Frank W lionrdilhn.
t " I flushed a Woodcock in the Kodaikanal in 1S67. Afterwards one was
obtained there by Mr. Levinge ; but they are certainly rare on the Palnis."— S. B. Fairbank.
% "The Woodcock arrives later and leaves earlier than the Snipe on the Nilgiris,
coming in late in October or early in November, and departing again at the latest by
the end of February. They are never very abundant, but with Ihe aid of a couple or
more of bustling spaniels and a few beaters, a few can almost always be had, when
they are in season.
"They frequent marshy ground and the banks of streamlets in forest. Though
occasionally one is met with in the depths of the larger cvlenls of forest, yet, as a
lule. 1 think that they conline themselves to the outskirts and to the narrow strips of
jungle running down the ravines between the hills, and which (the jungles and not
bills) are always more or less marshy towards their bases.
perhaps in smaller numbers, in the Shcvcroy and Javadi* Hills
in the Salem District, in the Anamalis, and in the Burghur and
Hosenur Hills in the Coimbatorc District. To the Western
Ghats, as near Kanara.f and again to the Hasten. Ghats.J
a few only seem to resort; but it is more numerous in the Garo,
Khasi, and Naga Hills, in Manipur § and Sylhct, || and in
the Tippefaf and Chittagong** Hills.
But while these, and possibly other localities, in regard to
which I have no information, such as the Vindya, Satpura,
Aracan and higher Tcnasscrim ranges, constitute its regular
"When driven they break cover either as sorm as flushed, or else keep taking short
flights in front of the men and dogs till they reach the foot of the shola. when they
fly rapidly off to the next, or back towards the head of the jungle When they have
been much disturbed, they become very cunning, and will not show themselves outtide
of the cover, hut keep flying back over the heads of the healers, and on one
occasion I saw one bird that had been flushed by a dog, rise a few feet in the air,
where it hovered till the dog had passed on, and then diop into the same place
again."—\V. Davison.
* " I have shot them on the Shcvcroy and Javadi Hills in the Salem district,
also on the Anamali, Nilgiri, Burghuor, and Husinoor Hills in the Counbatoie
district. I have also heard of their being shot in the Wynad.
" It is a cold weather visitant, aniving about the middle of November and leaving
again in February or March. As a rule they are rare, a few only being found in
suitable localities.''—Albert G. Theobald.
t " Colonel 1'eyton informed me that he had only seen four diiringa long residence
in Kanaia (10— 12 years), but I don't think any one in these parts ever thinks of
regularly searching for the birds."—ƒƒ. S. Laird.
* " The Woodcock. I am informed by Captain Blaxland. has several times been
seen, and on one occasion shot, on the higher plateaux of Jaipur."—V. Hall.
§ " 1 have shot the Woodcock in Manipur, the Khdsi Hills, near Shillong. and the
Naga Hills near Kohima. ami I have seen it in the Garo Hills. In all these districts
it appears to be a migrant, appearing about the end of October, and leaving at the end
of March. In Manipur I once shut two in the same day from the howdah in heavy
grass jungle while beating for deer ; in other places I have generally seen them on the
banks of running streams in heavy tree jungle. The localities they affect may
easily he discovered by noticing the borings which they make in searching for worms.
In the Naga Hills it is common. The Angami Nagas snare them by marking the
spots, generally an open glade in a wood, where they come out to feed ; they
surround the place with bushes leaving two or three runs, in each of which Ihey place
two sticks arranged like an inverted V. and from the apex suspend a line noose. The
bird is caught by the neck."—G- Damant.
¡1 During the cold weather a few brace of this species are procurable in suitable
localities in the Sylhet district. They frequent the small rivulets that run amongst
the densely-wooded ttelahs, which cover a good part of the northern portion of thai
district. The sportsman walks up the bed of a rivulet with a few beaters on each
side, and gets a snap shot occasionally. I have known of four brace being got in a
forenoon, but a brace now and again is the general outturn of cock-shooting in those
parts. They arrive in November and leave in February."—J R Cripfs.
% The late Mr. Valentine Irwin sent me a Woodcock killed in the Tippera Hills,
where he told me that it was not very uncommon, in winter.
**" It is a rather noticable fact that the Woodcock is found, though rarely, along the
hill margins of the eastern side of ibis District (Chittagong). We put up one at Puttie
one day in March 1S7S. Mr. Lowis shot two near the Mahamani in January 1S78,
and two others in 1S77 at Fenna. In the sameyeara Woodcock killed itself here in
the station by flying against Hie telegraph wires. Mr. Martin put up a brace of
Woodcock from a teelak near Kutubcherra in December 1876, and flushed others in
the same locality on three subsequent occasions, namely in December 1877, and in
March and June 1878. Again Mr. Luwis ihot another last mouth, and saw a
second."—It. Faiion.