GRALLATORES. 185 



is only assumed during the breeding season. After 

 that time the Ruff and Reeve are so much alike 

 that they can only be distinguished with certainty 

 by dissection. The colour of the legs varies a good 

 deal in different individuals ; being in some orange, 

 in others grey, and in others again yellowish brown. 

 I have only once been fortunate enough to see this 

 bird in a wild state, on which occasion I met with a 

 Reeve when Snipe-shooting in October. It was 

 remarkably tame, and as I did not fire when it first 

 rose, being anxious to observe its habits, it dropped 

 again within twenty yards of the spot from whence 

 it rose, and commenced feeding. It uttered no cry, 

 and flew slowly, with a lazy beat of wing. After watch- 

 ing it for some time, on its again rising I killed it. An 

 examination of the stomach showed the food to con- 

 sist of numerous small moUusca, worms, and beetles. 

 Woodcock, Scolopax rusticola. Formerly not 

 uncommon in winter, but now scarce. This, pro- 

 bably, is owing to the increased cultivation of waste 

 lands, and the careful way in which the hedges are 

 now trimmed, and ditches cleared ; the Woodcocks 

 no longer being able to find the thick cover in 

 which they used once to delight. In the more 

 wooded neighbourhoods of Edgewarebury and Stan- 

 more, where game is strictly preserved. Woodcocks 

 are more frequently seen, though by no means plen- 

 tiful ; and seldom a season passes in which I do not 

 hear of one or two having been shot at Harrow Weald, 



R 3 



