WOODCOCK. 223 



of fir covers in the vicinity of cultivated ground." This is certainly 

 the case in Herefordshire, for now a year scarcely passes without 

 some two or three well-authenticated instances of their breeding 

 being recorded. The following letter, dated August 4th, 1852, sent by 

 Mr.T. W. Bird, to BeWs Life in London, is the first on record. — " On 

 the 3rd of May, 1848, as the keeper of Thomas Clarke, Esq., of 

 Derndale, near Hereford, was going his rounds, he came to a spot 

 in the Wellington cover, where a Hawk had plucked some small 

 bird. Shortly afterwards, a bird which he took to be the Hawk, rose 

 and darted into the wood. The keeper fired and killed it, and then 

 discovered that he had shot a Woodcock. Retracing his steps, he 

 found four young Woodcocks, apparently about a week old, and much 

 resembling young Lapwings, running through the brushwood. The 

 dead bird proved to be a female ; and as her consort could not be 

 discovered anywhere in the neighbourhood, the keeper took the 

 young ones home and tried to rear them, but without success; they 

 died on the third day. The parent bird and her young ones were 

 preserved and are still in Mr. Clarke's possession." 



On May 23rd, 1873, Dr. J. H. Wood put up two old birds 

 from a soak in Mainswood. Mr. Cook has only known two 

 instances of their breeding on the Stoke Edith estate. Many 

 years ago a nest was found at Camwood with three eggs in it. 

 Under the promise of a reward to the labourers who found it, the 

 nest was not disturbed, and the young birds were hatched off. In 

 1 88 1, a pair nested in the park coppice, and the young birds in 

 the down were seen on several occasions in the park, together with 

 the old birds ; and these latter were observed to make much the 

 same fuss as the Partridge, in order to draw the attention from their 

 young. 



Mr. H. H. Wood, of Whitehouse, Vowchurch, says that " in 

 1881, on or about July 14th, five or six young Woodcocks got up 

 before him, and dropped again within twenty or thirty yards. The 

 reddish feathers of their tails looked bright and pretty in the 

 sunshine." These birds had been seen by his men several times 

 before. Mr. Wood thinks more Woodcocks stay than was formerly 



