Marking of Woodcock in Northumberland 249 



experiments conducted at Alnwick. But this does not 

 prove that the birds are chiefly of a stay-at-home disposi- 

 tion. In the immediate neighbourhood of the place where 

 the marking was carried out, it would be fairly well 

 known that such a system was extant, and every keeper 

 or gunner who shot a woodcock would examine it closely 

 to see whether it was a marked bird or not. In places 

 further afield the fact of a marked woodcock being shot 

 might be talked about locally, and possibly someone 

 might communicate the circumstance to the local paper, 

 but there, very probably, the whole thing might end, un- 

 less someone who happened to know all about the 

 marking chanced to hear about it. 



For all these reasons it is to be hoped that in future 

 bird marking experiments a more comprehensible plan 

 will be adopted, so that whenever a bird is found it may be 

 possible for the finder to get into communication with the 

 marker. In regard to birds in general a system of this 

 kind has been practised for the last year or two by the 

 editors of the journal, British Birds, the name of one of 

 the editors, followed by his London address, being 

 stamped on even the smallest rings. This system leaves 

 nothing to be desired, for everyone knows where London 

 is, and as each ring has a distinctive number the mere 

 return of it to its original source is sufficient to trace the 

 person by whom it was affixed, the kind of bird to which 

 it was attached, and the date of marking, all these par- 

 ticulars being registered in the first instance. It is greatly 

 to be hoped that in all cases of woodcock-marking in the 

 future this excellent system will be followed. 



In a paper on " The Cleverness of the Woodcock," the 

 writer combats the assertion that the woodcock is 

 " stupid " (having in mind, possibly, the French saying, 

 "Bete comme un becasse "), and among other illustrations 

 of his point he states that ' ' though a 'cock may flap 

 away in seeming hopelessness, a sportsman should not 

 allow himself to be deceived into thinking that the shot 

 is necessarily easy. The very appearance of hopeless- 

 ness may be a trick, and at the moment when the trigger 

 is pulled a twist and swerve will come from those power- 



