46 THE WOODCOCK. 
the woods became more dense and the powers of flight of the 
nestlings more ambitious, they were to be found in the stretches 
of bracken contiguous to the woods where they were hatched. 
At this season of the year, the old birds being in moult and the 
young ones not fully feathered, they offered a very easy victim 
for the sportsmen who came across them. By September they 
were well able to look after themselves, and had developed that 
deceptive tortuous art of flying which so often proves their salva- 
tion. In October we saw no woodcock, and it was not until the 
second week of November that we began to see them again. 
These birds would be migrants coming in from the east, and the 
majority will stay with us more or less (all depending on the 
weather) till February, in which month there seem to be more 
woodcock at Capenoch than at any other time in the year. By 
the end of March most of them have gone eastward again, but 
annually leaving a greater number to nest in our coverts. It 
seems a great pity that under our existing legislation the shooting 
of woodcock in February should be permissible, and a clause in 
the “Wild Birds Protection Act,’’ extending the close time for 
woodcock to March 2nd instead of February 2nd (as at present) 
is to be hoped for. There are some who claim that a further 
extension should be granted by extending the close time to Sep- 
tember 30th instead of only to July 31st, but before acquiescing 
in this desire we should like to ascertain to what extent home- 
bred birds stay at home after October Ist. 
DISCUSSION ON THE PAPER. 
Mr J. Bryce Duncan of Newlands proposed a cordial vote 
of thanks to Mr Gladstone for his interesting and valuable com- 
munication, and this was seconded by Mr Matthews. 
Mr Robert Service, in supporting the motion, said as yet 
even among the best informed sportsmen and still better informed 
naturalists the migrations of the woodcock were extremely 
obscure. The dates had not been tabulated in anything like 
precise order. It seemed extremely mysterious how some morn- 
ing woods would hold any number of woodcocks where the 
previous day not one was to be found. It was often said that 
certain moonlight nights favoured these long journeys; but he 
fancied that had not been clearly established yet. He had on 
certain very rare occasions seen the woodcock coming in long 
