DISTRIBUTION OF THE WOODCOCK IN FORTH AREA 145 



been taken to put their accuracy beyond doubt, and credit 

 given that that has been the case. Deny the credit, or fail 

 to read any significance in the facts, then their importance 

 is forgotten, and the facts themselves relegated to the " waste- 

 paper baskets of the brain " ; or otherwise they may be 

 wilfully ignored. 



Since the above was written (May 1 8) further informa- 

 tion has been conveyed to me. Thus, a neighbour tells 

 me that while " no actual count has been made, or precise 

 estimates arrived at " on the properties of Duchray in the 

 north-west of this county or at Torwood, which latter is 

 immediately to the north of this place, " there can be no 

 hesitation in recording that this season has been a great 

 year for nests ; but so far I have not seen a young one, so 

 conclude the eggs were all spoilt." The principal nesting 

 grounds on Torwood face the north and north-east. 1 



Here follows an interesting note .from my friend Mr. W. 

 E. Frost of Crieff. He writes : " From Ferntower or the 

 'Knock of Crieff' much feiver than last year [the italics are 

 mine. J. A. H. B.], when they were especially abundant. 

 The best covers face the south. Strowan, which comprises 

 the north side of Tirleum Hill, and the Strath from 

 Monzievaird to Comrie, in extraordinary numbers this year 

 so Captain Stirling, the laird, told me on Saturday" 

 (May 23). These remarks, however, relate to February. 

 " When he was out shooting rabbits he put up a bird 

 almost every thirty yards, but he did not shoot." He tells 

 me that he once saw a Woodcock carrying two young at 

 one time. 2 



My next letter in chronological sequence has much of 

 interest, one from Mugdock Castle in the south-west of the 

 district where the favourite Woodcock covers face the south 

 and south-west, and where the observations given are exactly 

 parallel with those made here in 1902, 1905, and again in 



1 A nest of Golden Plovers' eggs was watched for some time by my hillkeeper ; 

 and when at last he felt convinced they were deserted, on examination he found 

 them cracked by the frost and useless, only one instance of many similar 

 experiences. 



2 "Now," Mr. Frost continues, "the author of 'Woodcock' in 'Fur, 

 Feather, and Fin ' series, records an instance of this, but adds : ' I believe this is 

 the only record in which the parent bird has been seen carrying two young ones 

 at the same time' " (in lit. May 26, 1908). 



67 c 



