THE WOODCOCK 157 



rather earlier. The flighting is continued till deep twilight 

 has settled over the glen, but ceases before night. In the 

 morning I, personally, have never heard this " roding," 

 but it is said to be recommenced before daybreak, and 

 to cease previous to full daylight. The Woodcock when 

 roding does not fly repeatedly over the same part of the 

 wood ; there is an interval between each of its appearances. 

 It is said to pass over the same country three times in 

 the course of the evening. On the first visit it flies high and 

 usually fast ; on the second, its progress is lower and more 

 leisurely, while on the third and last the bird moves just 

 above the trees. This habit of the Woodcock is an unfor- 

 tunate one, did the bird but know it, for on the Continent 

 — in France, Germany, and other countries — sportsmen go 

 out just before sunset and conceal themselves on the 

 ground over which the Woodcock are in the habit of 

 roding. In Scandinavia large numbers are shot in this 

 way ; in Sweden the line of country traversed by them 

 is known as the " drag " or " strack." In Germany and in 

 Scandinavia the Woodcock are supposed to make their 

 first appearance on the third Sunday in Lent, which is 

 called Woodcock Sunday. An old sporting rhyme fixes 

 the arrival and the departure of the birds as follows : 



" Oculi da kommen sie 

 Lactare, das hahre 

 Judica, sind sie auch noch da. 

 Palmarum, trallarum." 



With Palm Sunday the migration ceases. 



The well-known sportsman, St. John, writing more 

 than half a century ago, gave it as his opinion that the 

 Woodcock was the first of all Highland birds to commence 

 nesting. Though this is scarcely correct — the Raven is 

 brooding before February is out, and the Heron a few 

 days later — the Woodcock is undoubtedly one of the 

 earliest birds to breed. By the third week in March the 



