Retrospective Criticism, 725 



this situation is, perhaps, too much exposed. I have never 

 met with the nest. 



The coot (i^ulica atra L,) is also common in the above- 

 named fishpond, but I have never seen the nest. 



Fishes in the Yore, M. P. to his list (p. 555.) might have 

 added the barbel (Cyprinus barbus), and the eel (Murge^na 

 v^nguilla L.). I have frequently seen these caught in the 

 river, and eels are abundant. The Cover, a little river 

 which gives name to a dale adjoining Wensleydale, con- 

 tains the minnow, grayling, smelt, trout, and eel. Very large 

 salmon come up it to spawn, and I have often seen them caught 

 by hand, and great numbers are taken by a poaching practice 

 called " blazing." — William G, Barker, East Witton, July 

 21. 1832. 



The Woodcock, (p. 570.) — With every deference due to the. 

 writer, I beg to offer a few remarks on that strange exhibition 

 of parental dexterity in the woodcock, inserted p. 570. 



" It was a hen bird flying off with a young chicken in her 

 talons," said the principal gamekeeper. Had I been present 

 when the keeper said this, I should have supposed that he was 

 speaking of a bii:d of prey. The woodcock has no talons. 

 To talk of the talons of a woodcock, is just about as apposite 

 as if we were to speak of the long and taper toes in the deli- 

 cate paw of a bear. Again, I am at a loss to comprehend 

 how the keeper could distinguish the female from the male 

 woodcock when on the wing. 



The gamekeeper stated "that it always builds its nest in a 

 dry situation ; that it generally has three chicks ; that imme- 

 diately after they are hatched, and until the chicks can fly, 

 the cock and hen bird regularly, every morning and evening, 

 clutch the chickens in their talons, and fly with them to the 

 nearest springs, where they continue till the chicks have fed, 

 when the old birds reconvey them in the same manner to the 

 nest." 



On examining the foot of the woodcock, we see at once 

 how impossible it is for this bird to carry off its young by the 

 instrumentality of its feet. Talons, which are of such essen- 

 tial service to birds of prey when grasping their victims, are 

 totally denied by nature to the woodcock. In lieu of a hind 

 toe of proportional length, and armed with a talon, which is 

 such a powerful and at the same time such a necessary counter- 

 support to the compressing action of the fore toes of a bird of 

 prey, there is only given to the woodcock a small delicate toe, 

 placed so high up the leg that its extremity barely touches the 

 ground when the bird is in a standing position. 

 . Now, granting, for sake of argument, that the woodcock 



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