IQO 



British Birds. 



THE WOODCOCK 

 {Scolupnx t'usticiild.) 



colour is like that of the other Snipes, but the back is beautifulh' shot with green and 

 purple. The Jack Snipe has never been found nesting in Great Britain, and is known 

 only as a winter resident. It nests in the high north of Europe and Siberia, migrating 

 to China, India and the Mediterranean countries. In habits it resembles the Com- 

 mon Snipe, but does not utter any note on rising, from which cause it has often been 

 called the ' Dumb ' Snipe. The nest is built in marshy bogs : the eggs are four in 

 number, pear-shaped, marked like those of the Common Snipe, and measure from 

 about an inch-and-three-eighths to an inch-and-three-quarters in length. 



As already noticed, this species may be distinguished from 

 the .Snipes by the transverse markings on the head, and by the 

 notches or bars on the inner web of the primary-quills, which 



only appear on the secondaries 

 in the young birds. The tail- 

 feathers have a grey band at 

 the tip, which is silvery-whitish 

 underneath. 



The Woodcock nests in most 

 of the wooded districts of Eng- 

 land, Scotland and Ireland, and a 

 large migration takes place every 

 autumn and spring. It breeds 

 throughout Central and Northern 

 Europe and Asia, as well as in 

 Japan and the Himalayas. The 

 food of the Woodcock consists of 

 worms, for which it probes with 

 its long bill in the ground, feeding 

 chietly at night. Every evening in 

 the mountains of Alfheim in Nor- 

 way a Woodcock used to lly from 

 the woods on one side of the lake 

 to feed in a marsh on the other side, 

 and he came each evening e.xactly 

 at ten o'clock, nor during a whole 

 month did I ever notice a couple 

 of minutes difference in the time of his passing, so that he was as good as a 

 clock to us on our fishing excursions on the lake. 



The nest is a depression in the griiund, lined with grass and dead leaves. The eggs 

 are four in number, and are more rounded than those of the Snipes, though occasionally 

 pear-shaped. The colour is a clay-brown with reddish-brown and purplish-grey spots. 

 The length is from an inch-and-five-eighths to an inch-and-seven-eighths. 



vVf^.^ 



The Woodcock. 



