4 SCOLOPACID^. 



discovered owing to the manner in which they harmonize with the dead 

 leaves. 



" I have had on three occasions the good fortune to see the Woodcock in the 

 act of carrying her young. On the first occasion the bird rose from my feet one 

 day in the month of June, in a thick coppice cover in Argyllshire, and flew ^vith 

 her strange burden carried between her thighs for about thirty yards, in the 

 manner well described in a note in Mr. Gray's 'Birds of the West of Scotland.' 

 On following her she again rose, still carrying the young one, and flew into some 

 thick cover. On this and the next occasion, which was in Perthshire, the birds 

 uttered no cry ; but the last time I witnessed this curious habit, which was on 

 the 5th of May last, the bird made the peculiar cry alluded to in the note in 

 Mr. Gray's work. On this occasion I could observe the bird more distinctly, as it 

 was in an old oak cover, with very little underwood, where I discovered her. On 

 rising she flew from thirty-five to forty yards, calling as above mentioned, and 

 then, alighting among some grass, seemed to flutter along, still retaining hold of 

 the chick. On raising her again the same manoeuvre was repeated, only that the 

 distance flown each time was greater, but always in the segment of a circle, as if 

 she were unwilling to leave the rest of the brood. On returning to the spot 

 where she rose at first, I discovered one of these, which was more than half-grown, 

 the quill-feathers being well formed, and must altogether have formed rather a 

 heavy burden. On taking it up it uttered a cry, which was at once responded to 

 by the parent bird, although the latter did not again take to wing from the bushes 

 into which it had ultimately flown." 



Mr. A. O. Hume \vrites * : — " My friend, the late Mr. A. Anderson, found 

 the eggs of the Woodcock on the Himalayas. The following is his account : he 

 wrote : — 



" ' On the 30th of June I turned my face towards the snows in another 

 direction, determined to consider my expedition a failure so long as the discovery 

 of the breeding-habits of the Woodcock still remained a desideratum, which was 

 one of the chief objects of my expedition. After two days' stiff" marching I 

 pitched camp at a place called Kemo, at an elevation of some 10,000 feet, over 

 and against Namick, which is celebrated for its salt-springs. 



" ' Here my luck culminated ; and I have probably to thank my fellow- 

 traveller, Dr. Triphook (an ardent sportsman, and quite game to fag all day with 

 liis rifle or my collecting-gun as the case might require), for not only the most 

 beautiful clutch of Woodcock's eggs I have ever seen, but the first that have as 

 yet been taken in this country. 



* 'N'ests and Eggs of Indian Birds,' 2nd edition, vol. iii. pp. 349, 350. 



