WOODCOCK. 



225 



very severe, to the sea-side, where they feed on the small shell-fish. 

 Where the birds are plentiful, the holes they thus bore in the soft 

 ground, guide the sportsman to set nooses of horsehair to catch 

 them. Shakespeare makes many allusions to these snares. 



Ay, springes to catch Woodcocks. 



—Hamlet, I. 3. 



Now is the Woodcock near the gin. 



—Twelfth Night II., 5. 



Ay, Ay ; so strives the Woodcock with the gin. 



— 3rd King Henry VI., J., 4. 



There is no record of their having been caught by this means in 

 Herefordshire. 



The Woodcock is not highly esteemed as an article of food in 

 northern countries ; and in the early part of the sixteenth century, 

 it was valued in England at less than a Golden Plover. In the fifth 

 Earl of Northumberland's "Household Book" (15 12), the price of a 

 Woodcock is stated to be one penny or three half-pence ; and in 

 the L'Estrange "Household Book," the reward for four Woodcocks 

 on October i8th was fourpence ; also in another instance, for three 

 Woodcocks, sixpence. In Shakespeare's time it began to be better 

 appreciated. 



" He hath bid me to a calf s head, and a capon ; shall I not 



find a Woodcock too ? " — (Much Ado K, 1.) 



It was in Wilkighby's Ornithology that the well-known couplet first 



appeared — 



If the Partridge had the Woodcock's thigh, 

 'Twould be the best bird that ever did fly. 



to which some modern writer has added : 



If the Woodcock had the Partridge's breast, 

 'Twould be the best bird that ever was dress'd. 



To kill the first Cock of the day, is a feather in the cap of the 

 lucky sportsman of the party. 



The Woodcock flatters ; now he wav'ring flies ; 

 The wood resounds ; he wheels, he drops, he dies. 



Gay — Rural Sports. 



Another historical notice of the Woodcock may not be passed 

 by. Atone of the battues at Holkham, on November 20th, 1829, 



