SCOLOPACIDA. 408 
first arrival of these birds; for although a few pairs 
occasionally remain to breed on the Quantock and 
Brendon Hills, and other similar situations, it must, 
both here and in other counties in England, be 
considered as decidedly migratory, by far the larger 
portion arriving on the English coast about the 
beginning of October, and, as I before remarked, the 
first arrivals on our more northern and eastern 
coasts are generally preceded by considerable num- 
bers of Goldencrested Wrens. 
The nest appears generally to be placed under the 
shelter of a small bush, or amongst roots and 
brambles: it is a mere hole scratched in the ground 
and sometimes lined with a few grasses. 
The food of the Woodcock consists mostly of the 
common earth-worm and of various sorts of insects 
and their larve. Meyer adds that the fibres of roots 
und bog-plants are often swallowed, but whether 
taken as food or only accidentally with the other 
food, does not appear certain. In its search for food, 
which it mostly procures at night, the Woodcock 
turns over the dead leaves and other decayed 
matter, and also bores into moist boggy ground, 
with its long beak, for worms. 
The Woodcock, it seems, may be kept in confine- 
ment, and may then be fed on worms and bread and 
milk. Before the days of percussion-caps and 
breech-loaders, this bird seems usually to have been 
trapped either by gins, snares or nets; thus Fabian, 
