AQ THe WOoopDCcock. 
plishes this has been a matter of much comment ; but the latest 
authorities would seem to agree that she carries them in her 
feet. By this habit the difficulty of feeding her young is over- 
come, for she nightly carries her brood to the feeding-grounds, 
returning with them again to her quiet nesting-site at dawn. 
It must be a relief when the young one can fly and visit the 
feeding-grounds without assistance. In their first plumage they 
are darker than their parents, and the outer web of the outside 
primaries of the wings are as it were serrated with brown 
‘coloured notches. When adult these notches disappear, leaving 
the outer webs of a uniform whitish colour. This difference in 
colouration of the outer primaries was long thought to denote 
the two sexes, but dissection has proved that this is not the case ; 
and there are at present no means of distinguishing the male 
from the female woodcock by the plumage. As a general rule 
the larger and heavier birds may be reckoned as females, but 
from experiment we have found heavy males to equal light 
females in weight, though these were exceptions: the weight test 
cannot therefore be implicitly relied on. The variation in size 
is often very great, but there is but one species of woodcock ; 
and the species is subject to extraordinary dissimilarities, both 
as regards plumage and weight. Pure white examples of wood- 
cock have been met with, and partial albinoism is not uncommon. 
Several years ago a table published in “The Field’ gave the 
average weight of a male as 9 to 10 ozs., and of a female 12 to 
14 ozs. Taking ten birds of either sex in the winter of 1902, 
we found the males averaged 11 ozs. 10 drs., and the females 
12 ozs. 5 drs. The heaviest on record is mentioned by Yarrell; 
it weighed 27 ozs., and was shot in 1801. Another of 24 ozs. 
was recorded about the same time, and some authorities are of 
opinion that these birds belong to a larger and different species 
now extinct. The names “ double,’’ “muff,’’ or “ muffled ’’ 
cock still exist, but no further evidence is forthcoming, and 
now-a-days such abnormally heavy birds are not met with. The 
weight of the birds, of course, is greatly influenced by the 
abundance or lack of food; and it is the search for this that 
causes a constant migration of these birds within our islands. 
How often has some covert been noticed on Monday apparently 
full of ’cock, which when beaten on Tuesday contained none! 
‘The birds which had been noticed found the ground unsuitable 
