I044 WOODCOCK 



precisely the same course, generally describing a triangle, the sides 

 of which may be a quarter of a mile long or more. On these 

 occasions the bird's appearance on the wing is quite unlike that 

 which it presents when hurriedly flying after being flushed, and 

 though its speed is great the beats of the wings are steady and 

 slow. At intervals an extraordinary sound is produced, whether 

 from the throat of the bird, as is commonly averred, or from the 

 plumage is uncertain. To the present wiiter the sound seems to 

 defy description, though some hearers have tried to syllable it. 

 This characteristic flight is in some parts of England called " road- 

 ing," and the track taken by the bird a " cock-road." ^ In England 

 in former times advantage was taken of this habit to catch the 

 simple performer in nets called " cock-shutts," which were hung 

 between trees across the open glades or rides of a wood,^ and in 

 many parts of the Continent it still is, or was till very lately, the 

 disgraceful habit of persons calling themselves sportsmen to lie in 

 wait and shoot the bird as he indulges in his measured love-flight. 

 A still more interesting matter in relation to the breeding of Wood- 

 cocks is the fact, asserted by several ancient writers, but for long 

 doubted if not disbelieved, and yet finally established on good 

 evidence, that the old birds transport their newly-hatched offspring, 

 presumably to places where food is more accessible. The young 

 are clasped between the thighs of the parent, whose legs hang down 

 during the operation, while the bill is to some extent, possibly only 

 at starting, brought into operation to assist in adjusting the load if 

 not in bearing it through the air.^ 



1 The etymology and consequently the correct spelling of these expressions 

 seem to be very imcertain. Some would derive the word from the French rSder, 

 to rove or wander, but others connect it with the Scandinavian rode, an open 

 space in a wood (see Hofes aTid Queries, ser. 5, ix. p. 214, and ser. 6, viii. pp. 

 523, 524). Looking to the regular routine followed by the bird, the natural 

 supposition would be that it is simply an application of the English word road ; 

 but of course natural suppositions are often wrong, and they always require the 

 support of evidence before acceptance. 



2 There is an interesting passage, to which Lord Lilford kindly drew my atten- 

 tion, in George Owen's Description of Penbrokshire, written in 1602 and printed in 

 1892 as No. 1 of the ' Cymmrodorion Record Series' (pp. 129, 130), shewing the 

 marvellous ' ' plentie " of Woodcocks, from Michaelmas to Christmas, in that 

 county, where they were taken "in cock shoote tyme (as yt is tearmed) w^ii is 

 the twylight," when "yt ys no strange thinge to take a hundred or sixe score in 

 one woodd in xxiiijo"" houres," and another MS. speaks of one wood having 13 

 cock-shots. In explanation of this abimdance the great extent of forest which 

 then prevailed in England may be borne in mind. One can hardly doubt that 

 very many more Woodcocks were then bred here than we have any notion of at 

 present, while the birds would, as they now do, make in autumn for the western 

 part of the island. It is expressly stated by Owen that they were not reared in 

 Wales, for he says that the species is "not our country eman borne." 



3 Of. Harting, Zoologist, 1879, pp. 433-440, and Mr. Wolfs excellent illustra- 



