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NATURAL HISTORY. 



Sub-family d. Scolopadnce. 



SCOLOPAX. 



Rusticola (Lat. fond of the country], the Woodcock. 



The WOODCOCK is a native of the northern parts of Europe 

 and Asia, and is common in this country, but rarely has been 

 known to breed here. It generally reaches England at the 

 beginning of October, and leaves us in March or April, at 

 which time its flesh loses the delicacy that characterises it, 

 and becomes coarse and valueless. The Woodcock frequents 

 dense thickets during the dav, but at night it leaves these re- 



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treats, and visits the swamps and flooded meadows, where it 

 finds a sufficiency of worms and insects. 



The nest of this bird is a loose mass of grass and leaves, 

 gathered together in some sheltered depression. The eggs are 

 four in number, of a yellowish brown, blotched with dark 

 brown and grey. 



