234 BRITISH BIRDS. 



amongst the trees and bushes. When roding, the flight is slow and 

 straight, and the plumage is puffed out, making the bird look very large. 



The Woodcock is a very early breeder. St. John had a nest brought 

 to him containing three eggs, taken on the 9th of March in the north of 

 Scotland ; and Mr. A. W. Johnson informs me that he has taken a full 

 clutch on the 3rd of March, not far from Newcastle-. St. John also 

 records a nearly full-grown young Woodcock from the same locality in 

 the second week in April, and Yarrell mentions two instances of young 

 Woodcocks having been obtained during that month; but these are 

 probably somewhat exceptional cases. The usual date for fresh eggs of 

 the Woodcock in this country is during the month of April. There are 

 several instances on record of fresh eggs of the Woodcock having been 

 taken in July and August, but it is not known that this bird rears more 

 than one brood in the season. The site chosen for the nest is always on 

 the ground, generally on the outskirts of a forest containing plenty of 

 underwood and fern. The nest is a mere depression in the ground, 

 plentifully lined with dead grass and leaves. 



Probably the earliest authentic account of the breeding of the Woodcock 

 in England is that recorded by Willughby and Ray, who write, ''some 

 stragglers, by some accident left behind when their fellows depart, remain 

 also in England all summer, and breed here. Mr. Jessop saw young 

 Woodcocks to be sold at Sheffield, and others have seen them elsewhere.^' 

 The Woodcock still breeds in some localities in the neighbourhood. 

 On the 18th of April, 1870, I went over from Sheffield to Edwinstowe, 

 having received information from a gamekeeper that a Woodcock was 

 sitting on four eggs in one of the Welbeck woods. I left the little 

 inn at ten o^clock on a brilliant moonlight night, in the company of a 

 woodman who had discovered the nest about a fortnight previously. The 

 night was warm and still, and we did not meet a soul during our five 

 miles walk through the forest, and scarcely heard a sound, except the 

 occasional cry of a cock Pheasant awakened by our footsteps. Arrived 

 at the spot the woodman pointed out a clump of last year's bracken, under 

 the spreading boughs of one of the old oak trees with which the forest 

 abounds, and in the midst of a number of birch trees which the woodmen 

 were engaged in felling. In the midst of this the nest was placed, on the 

 ground, and was little more than a hollow scratched in the earth and lined 

 with a few leaves and a little dry grass. The bird did not leave her nest 

 until I was within a few feet of her. After watching her disajjpear under 

 the branches, I bent aside the bracken and looked at the four eggs. As I 

 had never taken Woodcock's eggs before, I said to the woodman that I 

 should like to carry them away ; he replied that the gamekeeper knew of 

 his having found the nest, and that if the eggs were taken he would 

 probably lose his situation. The sight of a half-sovereign, however. 



