WOODCOCK. 297 



its Tipward curling is suggestive of that most sensitive 

 organ of touch, the proboscis of an Elephant.* Their 

 food consists chiefly of worms, of which they consume 

 immense quantities, and, as with the snipe, the " borings 

 may be frequently detected in their moist feeding 

 grounds. In the breeding season the woodcock utters 

 a curious squeaking note when taking its evening 

 flight, but in the autumn and winter it but rarely 

 emits any cry when flushed by the sportsman, though 

 the peculiar noise made by the bird (probably with its 

 vrings) in rising, when once heard is never to be 

 forgotten. Mr. S. Bligh informs me that he once 

 came upon a woodcock so suddenly at Framingham, 

 near Norwich, that, on rising, it uttered a peculiarly 

 shrill cry of alarm. 



The folio-wing curious fact also with regard to this 

 species which I have not elsewhere met with, is recorded 

 by Mr. Gould, on the authority of Captain Murray 

 Aynsley. That gentleman, when shooting in the coverts 

 at Alnwick, in Northumberland, observed a woodcock 

 pitch down within eight yards of him on the opposite 

 side of a fence where the ground was bare, with the 

 exception of a few leaves. These the bird, on alighting, 

 threw over its back with its beak, squatting close to the 

 ground all the time, and was more than half covered 

 when the beaters came up ; nor did it attempt to rise 

 until flushed by a dog. 



Of course no history of the woodcock in Norfolk 

 would be deemed complete without some reference to 

 the memorable exploit of Sir Francis Chantrey, in killing 

 two birds at one shot, when shooting at Holkham ; for, 

 although this feat has been accomplished by other 

 sportsmen, the artistic celebrity of the performer, and 

 the monument erected by himself to the memory of his 



* The voluntary upward movement of the upper mandible in 

 the woodcock is described at some length, and illustrated by a 

 wood engraving, in Dr. Hoffman's monograph above mentioned. 



2q 



