144 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



T. C. Heysliam, some fifty years since, he does not 

 appear to have obtained either eggs or young, 

 although he employed a number of amateur col- 

 lectors. Since that time, the occasional nesting of 

 the Woodcock has been recorded in the local papers ; 

 yet old residents, who have birdnested since their 

 boyhood, consider the nesting of the Woodcock a 

 f)urely modern development, and assure us that in 

 their fathers' time the Woodcock was solely a 

 periodical visitant. Now, two broods are often 

 reared in a season, the birds of the first brood 

 flying in May. It is interesting to watch the 

 flighting of the old birds as they fly, in the twilight, 

 from one plantation to another, uttering a hoarse 

 croak at intervals. We have searched all day 

 through the largest plantations in Cumberland, 

 without flushing more than a single bird, and yet 

 when dusk arrived, "cock" after " cock" passed and 

 repassed to the feeding grounds. 



The nest of the Woodcock is a slight but careful 

 structure, composed of fine stems and a few dead 

 leaves, generally placed near the foot of a tree in a 

 fir plantation. The eggs are four in number, but it 

 often happens that one of the clutch is addled. A 

 keen eye is needed to detect the presence of the 

 Woodcock, with her young, " as she crouches upon 

 the bare ground under the shadows of the young firs, 

 her back turned to the light, her head reposing in 

 the shade. Three well-grown nestlings are crouch- 

 ing on one side of her, and beyond her is a fourth ; 

 upon our nearer approach, the old bird unwillingly 

 rises, but the brood continue to squat, without 

 attempting to escape." 



