THE WOODCOCK. 215 



But the egg-collector will walk straight to the nest, not at all alarmed by 

 this display of hostility. Sometimes dogs are trained to find the eggs. 



The food of the lapwing consists of worms, insects, and grubs. It has a 

 very cunning way of enticing out the worm. It picks down the worm-hill 

 with its bill, and then walks round it. The worm comes out to see what is 

 the matter, and is instantly seized and eaten. 



The lapwing is a very useful bird in a garden, on account of its habit of 

 ■devouring; insects. 



THE WOODCOCK. 



Sometimes, on a still October night, when the wind is in the north-east, a 

 great cloud of birds comes silently over from their summer quarters in 

 Norway and Sweden, to spend the winter in England. They are well known 

 to the sportsman by the name of woodcocks, and he does not give them a 

 very kindly reception. 



On the contrary, if he is acquainted with the spot where they have 

 alighted, he takes his gun and goes out, feeling sure of an excellent day's 

 shooting. He is almost certain to find them in great numbers in hedges by 

 the side of plantations, or even in turnip-fields ; and he kills many of them, 

 making the most of his time. The next day they may have gone away — 

 "having resumed their flight as soon as it was dark. 



They are not at all adapted for a long flight, and can only accomplish it 

 by choosing a favourable wind. A captain of a ship plying to and from 

 Norway and Sweden declared that he had often seen them, when quite spent 

 ■and tired, drop a moment or two on the smooth water behind the ship, and 

 rest with outspread wings. Then they seemed revived, and continued their 

 voyage. 



The bird belongs to the same great division as the heron and the stork ; 

 but the smaller family to which it belongs differs from them with regard to the 

 beak. The beak is not hard and firm, like the heron, but soft and flexible. 

 The tip is covered with a soft skin that is very sensitive, and the bird uses it 

 to thrust into soft earth, and catch little insects or worms that it could not 



