92 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



What with its goodness for food, and its unmistakeable 

 appearance — testified to by its many native names, Sinikukra 

 in Kumaon and Nepal; Bumped or Dhabha in Chitral ; 

 Chinjarole in Chamba; Kangtrukm Manipur; Daodidap gadeha, 

 in Cachar ; Simpso Khlan, among the Khasis ; Gherak, in Drosh; 

 and Chustruck in Gilgit — this bird always attracts attention 

 everywhere, in India as well as in Europe, and the uncertainty' 

 of finding it adds to the value put on it. And, as it rises without 

 warnmg, and not unless it can help it, and has perforce to 

 dodge if its line of flight takes it through trees, shooting it is 

 generally a triumph. Hume, however, regarded it in India as 

 a sluggish flier and an easy shot, only worth firing at for its 

 goodness on the table, but this experience is by no means 

 universal, though, like snipe, the bird tends to be tamer and 

 easier to hit than in England. 



The fact that the woodcock digs his bill in the ground, and 

 swallows his worms something like a duck, not tossing them 

 down his throat by an up-jerk of the bill, as a crane or stork 

 would do, has no doubt given rise to the idea that he lives by 

 suction, this notion being aided by his very rapid digestion. He 

 is really a far greater glutton than the much maligned vulture, 

 which only sees food, probably, about once a week, and then has 

 to scramble for it, while the woodcock, essentially a hermit, 

 " does himself well " every night of his life, and can put away 

 an incredible number of worms — a tame bird will eat a cupful 

 at a sitting. Insects, both in the larval and adult states, are 

 also eaten, and even frog-spawn does not come amiss ; the bird's 

 nights must be pretty fully occupied in getting enough food, for 

 it is strictly a night-bird, and seldom moves by day. 



At evening and grey dawn too, the bird's courting manoeuvres 

 are carried on ; his love-sport resembles that of the snipe in 

 being aerial, bat he does not drum, but flies to and fro, in 

 crescent paths of fifty to two hundred yards, uttering alternate 

 croaks and squeaks, and getting lower at each turn, though 

 at first above the trees ; this is called " roding " on the continent. 

 At such times the birds are easily shot, but this is mere poaching, 

 as both parents are needed to attend on the young. These are 

 beautiful little creatures with comparatively short bills and 



