The Woodcock 237 



keeper. This chick's two fellow-mates simultaneously 

 disappeared into cover, and did not emerge therefrom 

 until called together by their parent, who, to our great 

 satisfaction, brought back the other little one. I do not 

 wish to suggest that behaviour of the kind is character- 

 istic of the woodcock, which has surely never been seen 

 carrying off a chick dangling at the end of her long bill. 

 Lavender, the gamekeeper mentioned, says he has seen 

 more than one youngster tucked privily away oetween 

 the mother-bird's wonderfully fine thighs, and in such 

 fashion deported to moist probing-grounds at a distance. 



Since home-breeding woodcock are now more numerous, 

 one would naturally expect to hear of more mature birds 

 being bagged during the autumn and winter. I do not 

 think it is so, because, unfortunately, a very great number 

 of home-reared birds go away. The Duke of North- 

 umberland, at Alnwick, has been very successful with the 

 catching and marking of young bircis, whose legs carry a 

 small ring, marked ' ' N," along with the year. Several 

 have been shot at different points of the compass, but it 

 has been shown that the majority proceeded north 

 towards the end of summer. 



Some countrymen will inform you that the woodcock 

 is double-brooded, although they are not able to prove it. 

 Could others do so, I think it might be found that the first 

 brood turned north, while the second brood turned south 

 with other migrants at the appointed time. If the double 

 brood be mythical, those unfledged birds which are often 

 encountered in early autumn point to my sinister con- 

 clusion that the original clutch of eggs was either stolen 

 or destroyed by vermin. 



Mention is made of the scarcity of woodcock. A short 

 time ago many of these birds rested in their aerial flight 

 on the Fames, and the two men, the sole occupants of 

 those islands., had a lively time with the gun — so much so 

 that they ran short of ammunition, one securing sixteen 

 brace and the other seventeen. Since that shoot some 

 visiting gentlemen have shot several of these birds from 

 the cobles. The Fame Islands offer varied and sensa- 

 tional sport, for ofttimes when birds are scarce one may 



