boo THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



and other unlikely situations, but, after settling down, it 

 becomes " haunted," as the Cleveland saying goes, and year 

 after year may be found in the same spot, whilst, if killed, 

 its place is soon taken by another. 



Heavy toll of their ranks is often exacted by coast shooters, 

 yet large bags are made on favoured estates in various parts 

 of the county. Lord de L'Isle and Dudley told me that the 

 largest number killed at Ingleby in one season was seventy- 

 three, in the year 1864 ; and W. Cook, formerly head keeper 

 at Grinkle, a very favourite haunt of 'Cock, bagged twenty- 

 four in one day. There had been a heavy snowstorm, and 

 he tried all the known resorts of the bird ; twice he killed a 

 right and left, and once two at a shot, thus emulating Chantrey's 

 famous achievemnet immortalised in " Winged Words." 



So much has already been written, in works specially 

 devoted to game-birds, on the habits of the Woodcock, that 

 it would be superfluous to occupy the space in a county history 

 for this purpose ; it may not be out of place, however, to state 

 that the old birds have been seen carrying the young, which 

 they held pressed under their bodies, but not in their claws ; 

 and, as early as ist April 1894, Lord de L'Isle and Dudley 

 discovered a nest with the parent bird sitting on four eggs. 



A singular instance of tameness in this species is related 

 by the late Hon. H. Sidney, who says {Field, 3rd April 1886) 

 that, during the snowstorm of that winter, the occupants of 

 a house in the village of Ingleby threw out food for small 

 birds, and were surprised one day to see a Woodcock come in 

 quest of a meal ; it continued to put in an appearance every 

 day till the thaw came, and if the food was not ready at the 

 same time each day it sat waiting for its arrival. 



The average weight of this bird is 120Z. The late J. 

 Gould remarked, in reference to a Woodcock shot near Halifax 

 in 1861, and said to have weighed 20 oz., "A bird of this weight 

 I have never seen," an assertion which will be confirmed 

 by every other ornithologist. The heaviest of which I have 

 personal knowledge weighed 17 oz., and was killed at Hutton, 

 near Guisborough, while the lightest healthy bird was one 

 of 7|oz., obtained by Mr. E. B. Emerson at Easby-in-Cleveland. 



