242 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



for their family home, whilst others seem to be quite 

 careless in this respect. For instance, the fox, 

 otter, rabbit or rat, hide their young in holes or 

 rocky fastnesses, leaving the hare almost alone to 

 brave the dangers of the open, whilst birds so far 

 apart as the Golden Eagle and the Willow Wren 

 either seek inaccessible crags or artfully conceal 

 their nests in the densest vegetation. 



Amongst birds which make no attempt at conceal- 

 ment, and whose nests are readily accessible, the 

 Woodcock, Nightjar, and Curlew may be taken as 

 examples ; but in all these cases it may be noted 

 that the plumage of the sitting bird blends so well 

 with its surroundings that identification is by no 

 means easy. 



The Woodcock is a close sitter, and it was pos- 

 sible to approach within a few yards of the subject 

 of this picture before she took the alarm. Even at 

 these close quarters, the mottled-browns and greys 

 of her feathers harmonized so completely with the 

 withered herbage around her that she might easily 

 have been overlooked. The point which first 

 arrested attention was the bird's eye. The living 

 eye has a peculiar light which sets it apart from 

 any other object in Nature. The glisten of a dew- 

 drop or the shine of a polished leaf are quite 

 different in quality. 



The arrival of the Woodcock on the October 

 migration is an event eagerly looked for by the 

 gunners on certain waste places on our eastern 

 coasts. The birds usually come in early in the 

 morning, performing the journey from Norway or 

 Sweden in about ten or twelve hours. AMien the 



