210 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
one or two other instances in summer. I therefore 
think there is little doubt that this species occasionally 
breeds in Wirral, although I have no authentic instance 
of a nest. ? On April 20th, 1858, a nest containing 
four young birds was found at Somerford by Sir 
Charles Shakerley’s keeper;” and Mr. F. Nicholson 
informs us that at Tatton Park some years ago a bird 
was killed on a nest which contained four eggs. On 
the 31st of July 1867, a Woodcock was caught by 
accident in a hawk-trap in the neighbourhood of 
Holmes Chapel. The bird, which showed no signs of 
having been wounded, had presumably bred in the 
district. Mr. F. S. Graves tells us that a nest contain- 
ing three newly-hatched young birds was found in a 
small wood at Astbury, near Congleton, in the spring 
of 1897. 
In the upper valleys of the Dane and Goyt the 
bird has frequently nested; we have reliable evidence 
that both eggs and young have been found on 
several occasions in the plantations above Goyts 
Bridge, and in the wooded cloughs near Bosley. 
Mr. N. Neave tells us that he flushed a Woodcock 
on April 5th, 1891, in a wood below Teggs Nose, 
near Macclesfield. 
A uniformly dove-coloured Woodcock, now in the 
possession of Lord Stanley of Alderley, was shot in 
Alderley Park some years ago.‘ 
1 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 12. 
2 Field, vol. xi. p. 472. 1858. 
S) Field, vol. xxx. p: 167. 1867: 
4 Land and Water, Dec. 25, 1886, p. 640. 
