called tó hér as loud as his tiny bill could pipe. In 'ë 'few
moments I ran forward, and she rose with him m <her feet,
her long legs dangling and swinging With hér little burden
like à parachute. I left her to pursue her flight in peace,
and went on my way ; but I have no doubt she went back for
the other two, for several times afterwards -1 saw them all
together in thé soft green ‘ glac.’ ”
« The late Mr. St. John was at one time under the - belief
that the/young bird-was carried itidhe' feet, and stated'so in
his ‘ Field Notes and Touf in 'Sutherlandshire,’-4i. p. 164,
but experiences'at Dunrobin, in 1849, in company with Mr.
John Hancock,* convinced' both these observers that the
young bird was clàsped between .the thighs and"pressed él'OSe
up to the body of the'parent ; and this view Was subsequently
put forth in his If Natural History’and Sport: in Méra||-
p. 210. An article' by Mr. J-. E. Harting -’‘(-Zodl. ' 187#;
pp. 438-440), with ah illustration' after WoïiNof thé" yoUng
bird dangling in the feet of the parents-like a parachute*/’
revived the interest on the subject; and Mr.jlîlJ'/ÜSsher
and Mr. R; È. .Reeves-contributed statements ■/fZöoI/1882j
pp. 306, 307)," showing that, according to the ' personal
experience 'of the latter,- and thaï' of ; 'other-"observers,' the
Woodcock supported Iher> young mot "only with cher feet; but
also with he® biïl-pféssêd'' oéoev'the xÉiók '-against'her- breast
confirming the assertion èf a Rostféver correspondent,lhat a’
Woodcock “ had a young:one pressed between!its1 breast:and
feet,f (Zool./1879, p? 43§); Without denying-^thé accuracy
of former' observation's/ the latter /position / appears tdhhé
supported by the evidence of’the larger hurû.bér of witnesses;
' The Woodcock: is a nocturnal bird, s'efeMng. ft s-reposé''by
day, remaining' quietly' hid in' the .'dry grassy-hittoms ‘of
brakes and woods,’ seldom or' never moving unless ’disturbed;
Sir Humphry Davy/in his 'Saïmônia, Sâyk/“ A" lauM?nr a
holy bush 'i's a’favourite" place for 'théir «repóse": ‘the htófök
and varnished leave’s Of these- trees prevent’the radiation" <5f
heat from the soil, and they aré ld^'affected by the'refrigerating
influence of a clear -sky/so* thatlthey^afford a’warm
* Nat. Hist. Tran^. NôAhmab. àSd Durham,:vi.ï^ -4 0 4 .
seat for the Woodcock.” Certain localities seem to have a
peculiar charm for it, and if the original occupier be shot, a
new’tenant is almost certain to be found there. So close do
they lie that but for the black .glittering eye they , might often
b,e passed unobserved ; and Mr. Gould records an instance of
a bird being seen to alight and half cover itself with .dead
leaves before the: beaters camé up, nor did it attempt to rise
until flushed by a dog.
Towards night it sallies forth, whirling and twiatingiô a
manner very different from its- Usual owl-like flight .by'day,
pursuing a well-known track through the cover to-its. feeding-,
ground. These tracks or open glades vim woods, are: sometimes:
called cackshoots and ’.cock-roads, and it 3sf in these Iplaces
that nets, called road-netS, were formerly) suspended for. their
capture, but the gun is now the more common means; of
obtaining them. cA;few are still caught’with nooses ofhorsé-
hair; set' up about the springs or'soft' ground .rôhèrc the birds
leave the, marks of the /perforations, ôr borings made with
their beaks. Common earth-worms oàppear to be (the food
most eagerly sought i after. ■ Montagu/and other ornithologists
have borne testimony to the' almost " incredible"’ quantity- of
eayth-worms which a single Woodwockj. in'iconfinementby has
been known to consume in ohé night ; and Mr. Edmond
Crawshay informéd-Mr;/Hancock that a man was ; kept, conr*
stahtly. employed’ during the. day ”iu /obtaining .the, supply
necessary*for a brood/ of three tof 'these 'birds. Mr.,;F. Nor-
gate, :wh6 tookshome a slightly /winged .Woodcock, and
observed its habits,-^assured Mr. Stevenson jthat the .flex-)
iHMtyJofzîtJaô’npperl mandible of the bill was go:,great that: it
more resembled ’the w^ithings of a worm than, a beak, and
this voluntary: upward: movement, .added»:!}© the; ;exquisité:
sense o£; touch possessed by the anterior portion of the beak,-
assists the bird in obtaining, irts food. ; Sir R. Rayne-Gallwëy
states that he has observed <that Woodcod^‘hav| ë/éUMëüS
h^>ii of placing near the edge of' the nest a little bank kof
moss, on which they will, at times deposit worms as they
bring thèni, that thë’ÿoung birds may learn fojpjek them out
as they quickly; glide ; from _th©ir: yipwv Be also says that