242 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



found. Dr. Maclean, about 1835, mentions a nest taken near Colchester (16). 

 Daniel says (6. ii. 437) : At Langleys, in Essex, the seat of " Mr. Tufnell, some 



years since, a Woodcock flew through 

 the hall window in the day time — 

 whether pursued by a hawk, or de- 

 ceived by the thorough light from 

 the opposite windows, 'is unknown." 

 He adds (6. ii. 441), " Young 

 Woodcocks have been found in the 

 High Woods, near Colchester ; " 

 also that at the time of their migra- 

 tion they are sometimes found in 

 'great "abundance upon the Essex 

 coast, especially in the large woods 

 at St. Osyth." Dr. Bree (32a) 

 WOODCOCK, J/g. notes a female containing eggs found 



in a garden in Colchester on Apr. 15, 1865, and also a female picked up close to 

 the town on July 24, 1869. The late Mr. Errington, of Lexden Park, had some 

 preserved specimens of the bird and its eggs, also taken in the Colchester High 

 Woods (Laver). Although common in the wooded districts around Laindon. 

 Burstead and elsewhere, it is infrequent in the more open Orsett district. On 

 Oct. 31st, 1887, however, during full moon, a young man who was catching black- 

 birds with a bat-fowling net along the hedges of a lane close to Orsett Street, cap- 

 tured one which sprang out of a ditch by the road-side (Sackett). Mr. John 

 Cordeaux writes (40. xii. 62), under date of Nov. loth : 



" A curious note comes to me from the Swin Middle L.V. : when the lantern 

 was lowered at sunrise a fine Woodcock was found dead on the top. Now if the 

 bird had struck the lantern in flight, it would either have fallen on deck cr into 

 the sea ; the probability therefore is that it alighted on the lantern top, and 

 simply died from exhaustion." 



Woodcocks " are not unfrequent visitors to the Forest in the winter months, 

 but the absence of springs and the hardness of the soil are unfavourable to them, 

 and they are never numerous where cattle have access. They do not, therefore, 

 generally remain long, but instances have been known of their staying through 

 the summer and breeding" (Buxton — 47. 95). 



Henry Doubleday writes (10) on Apr. 9th, 1844 : " On Sunday afternoon a 

 lad was walking through our forest and put up a Woodcock, and on looking at the 

 spot she rose from, found four eggs which he brought to me." The Rev. J. W. 

 Maitland also has two nests, taken in Epping Forest, while Mr. Harting writes 

 (41. i. 166) : — 



"On the 6th April [1887] * * * four Woodcocks were flushed in different 

 parts of the Forest. * * * On the 6th of August last * * * while walking at twi- 

 light in the neighbourhood of Loughton Camp, I came suddenly upon an old 

 Woodcock and two full-fledged young ones. They all rose at my approach within 

 a few yards of me, but the young ones not being strong on the wing, dropped again 

 within a very short distance.'' 



In the extensive woods around Danbury, Mr, Smoothy frequently meets with 

 them during winter, and shoots, on an average, about seven couple 'every season, 

 though in 1883-4 he killed nine couple, and in 1888-9 ten couple. He has kept 

 account of the weights of all he has shot during the last few years, and finds the 

 average to be 12 oz., though two have reached 16 oz. It probably breeds in the 

 woods as he has seen it late in the spring. 



