514 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



several excellent covers lay in the immediate vicinity, it was no uncommon thing for two 

 or three guns to bring home twentj^ — naj-, thirty couple. I have known a party tiro a 

 nmnber of shots that would appear incredible ; and I have more than once expended my 

 last charge of jiowder, and left, for want of ammunition, one or two copses untried." 



Daniels has thus described the mode of feeding these birds, as observed in an aviary at 

 St. Ildephonso, in Spain : — " There was a fountain perpetually Hewing to keep the ground 

 moist, and trees planted for the same purj^ose ; fresh sod was brought to them, the 

 richest in worms that could bo found. In vain did the worms seek concealment ; when 

 the woodcock was hungry, it discovered them by the smell, stuck its beak into the 

 ground, but never higher than the nostrils, drew them out singly, and, raising its biU 

 into the air, it extended upon it the whole length of the worm, and in this way swallowed 

 it smoothly, \Aathout any action of the jaws : this whole operation was performed in an 

 instant, and the action of the woodcock was so equal and imperceptible, that it seemed 

 doing nothing ; it never missed its aim : for this reason, and because it never plunged its 

 bill beyond the oritlcc of the nostrils, it was concluded that the bird was directed to its 

 food by smell." 



