LIMICOLM. ( 233 ) SCOLOPACIDM. 



THE WOODCOCK. 



Scolopax rusticula. 



Oft at this season, near an oozy spring, 



O'er hung by alder boughs, the Woodcock haunts ; 



{Sure harbinger, when thus so early come, 



Of early ivifiter tedious and severe) ; 



There he imbibes his watery food ; till, scared 



By man and dog, upward, o?t pinion strong. 



He springs, and o'er the summits of the grove, 



Flies far, unless, flashing, the quick-aimed tube 



Arrest his flight, and brifig him lifeless down, 



With his long bleeding bill sunk in the marsh. 



Gkahame, British Georgics — "November." 



The Woodcock is found in small numbers in most of the 

 woods and plantations of Berwickshire during the late 

 autumn, winter, and early spring months, and in some 

 instances a few have been known to remain in the county 

 through the summer to breed, the nest and eggs having 

 been found in one or two localities. 



With the exception of those which stay to nest, the 

 whole of the Woodcocks which are seen in our woods 

 during the shooting season leave for their breeding quarters 

 in the northern parts of Europe in March and April ; 

 while it has been observed that those which breed in the 

 county disappear towards autumn, having probably migrated 

 southwards.^ The autumnal flights of this species from 

 the north generally arrive in Berwickshire about Octo- 

 ber and November. In some years the birds are much 



1 Colonel Brown of Lougforinacus lias informed me that the Woodcocks which 

 stay during summer in the woods about the Watch Water leave early in autunm. 

 He says that in the neighbourhood of Longformacus the autumnal flights appear 

 earliest on Craushaws Hill. 



