and there rising higher than usual, turn back over the trees
and again drop in them higher up. Ten or twelve birds to two
guns in a morning is quite an unusually fine bag, so it must
not be supposed that they lie thick as a rule, and yet in particular
parts of the hills five or six are at times shot out of one
tiny " shola" not perhaps above thirty yards wide, and not a
quarter of a mile in length. In thus beating, numbers of hares
(the large Lepus.nigricollis^ Wood-Pigeon [Palumbuselphinstonii)
and Quail are also flushed, and not unfrequently Grey Jungle-
Fowl and a few Wood-Snipe, the latter specially towards the
bottom, where almost all these sholas end in more or less of a
swamp in which both Common and Pintail Snipe are very
often also found, so that a beat for Woodcock of this kind does
afford very pretty sport.
During the cold season the Woodcock is, I think, mute. At
no time have I ever heard it utter any cry that I can remember
; but Mr. Frederic Wilson, writing of them in their summer
haunts, in the higher ranges near the snow, where they breed,
remarks :—
" At this season they arc seen towards dusk about the open
glades and borders of the forest on the higher ridges, flying
rather high in the air in various directions, and uttering a loud
wailing cry."
According to European authors, the Woodcock in the
summer, during its morning and evening flights, utters a very
peculiar call-note, first one or two snorts, "a hollow, coarse,
somewhat lengthened nasal sound, followed by a short, fine
sharp sort of whistle, which, when one is accustomed to it, may
be heard to a considerable distance."
In winter one sees and hears little of these flights at dusk,
and just before daylight which characterise the species in the
summer. As a rule they lie hid all day within fifty yards of
their feeding ground, to which towards dusk they toddle down,
as far as I have been able to sec, never flying a yard for weeks
together unless disturbed ; but though I have never myself seen
it, I have been told, by reliable persons, of Woodcock at Simla
flying up in certain years, regularly every evening in November
or December from the valleys below, towards the top of the
highest hill (Jakko), though what they wanted in the absolutely
dry scrub there no one can guess. Still quite at the top I have
known of ten or eleven (possibly a flight that had just alighted)
being found, and five killed.
OF THE nidification of this species in the Himalayas, though
Hodgson, Wilson, Duff and many others have found the nests,
the only account on record is that by my friend the late Mr.
A. Anderson. He says, writing of a trip in Kumaun :—
" On. the 30th of June I turned my face towards the snows in
another direction, determined to consider my expedition a
failure so long as the discovery of the breeding haunts of the
Woodcock, which was one of its chief objects, still remained
unachieved. After two days' stiff marching I pitched camp at
a place called Kemo, at an elevation of some 1 0 , 0 0 0 feet over
and against Namick, which is celebrated for its salt springs.
" We were following up a huge wounded Presbytis schistaceus
through a dense undergrowth of ringals, when a Woodcock
rose close to us, dropping again almost immediately, and disappearing
in the cover. A diligent search revealed the longlooked
for prize—four eggs, which were deposited in a slight
depression in the damp soil, and embedded amongst a lot of
wet leaves, the thin ends pointing inwards and downwards
into the ground.
"The eggs found (I could sec they were hard-set), I told
Triphook I had no intention of leaving the place without bagging
the bird. It was raining heavily and bitterly cold with the
thermometer down to 40° ; but, fortunately for us, before we
had had time to make ourselves comfortable under an adjoining
tree, the bird flew back in a sort of semicircle, alighted, and ran
on to her nest. No sooner down than she was off again, frightened,
as I subsequently learnt, at one of our dogs, but which
at first thought alarmed me not a little as I imagined she was
removing her eggs. After having satisfied myself that my
suspicions were unfounded, it was decided that, as I had done
my duty in finding the nest, shooting the bird should devolve
on Triphook, and right well he did it, considering all the disadvantages
which militate against having a snap shot in dense
cover and in a thick mist. I never do anything but miss on
such critical occasions; at any rate I would rather some one
else made a mull of it than myself.
" The eggs were a most beautiful set ; in consequence of the
advanced state of incubation it was a full month before they
were made into good specimens ; a week later and the chicks
would have been hatched. They are far darker and redder than
the usual run of Woodcocks' eggs, all four resembling the second
figure in Ilewitson's work, and in the character of their markings
they are not unlike richly coloured specimens of some
Terns' eggs. They are remarkable for the roundness of their
form, and in having none of the pyriform or pear-shaped character
which distinguished the eggs of all the allied species."
Whether the Woodcock ever does remove its eggs, as has
been asserted, or not, it certainly does carry its young about,
one at a time, grasped between the two thighs and pressed
against the lower part of the breast.
English writers have all a good deal to say about the nidification
of this species, which breeds occasionally almost throughout
the British Isles.
Hewitson says:—"The Woodcock lays its eggs amongst
the dry grass or dead leaves which form the surface of the