12 GAME-BIBDS OF INDIA 



up in. In the plains the matter is different, and here Woodcock 

 are only rare visitors, though chance birds are met with, generally 

 in December and January, in many parts of the country. In Burma 

 they seem to descend to the lower countries, often almost to sea- 

 level as Gates says, more frequently than they do in India. Still, 

 even in the latter country, wherever there are hills near by, cock 

 are sure to be found at more or less frequent intervals durmg the 

 cold weather. 



The late Mr. P. W. Mackinnon informed me that " Woodcock 

 arrive at Mussoorie in October early, about 1st, and leave by 15th 

 March, Mussoorie (3,000 feet." 



According to Venning, who writes from Haka : " Woodcock are 

 fairly plentiful in the cold weather in the Chin Hills, frequenting 

 wooded streams and marshy pools. This year I found three together 

 in one small swamp on no less than four occasions. On another 

 occasion I shot the same afternoon one Woodcock, two Wood-Snipe 

 and a Fantail Snipe." 



In Dibrugarh, in Lakhimpur, which is surrounded by lofty hills 

 at no great distance, anything from five or six to a dozen are shot 

 annually. In Cachar one or two are seen or shot each cold weather 

 and the same in practically every district of the Assam Valley. In 

 Dibrugarh there are a few places which are almost a certain find 

 for an odd cock or two during December and January, and Mr. 

 F. Moore, who made a point of looking up these birds, always 

 succeeded in getting from four to a dozen birds each year he was in 

 this district. In Sylhet Cripps reported it to be so common that he 

 had known of as many as four brace being obtained in a single 

 morning. Once, however, we get any distance from hills cock only 

 appear as rare stragglers, and in these cases it is probable that birds 

 migrating from one range to another are, as the Irishman said of 

 the owl, benighted by day and have to stop where they are until 

 the succeeding sunset. In this way Woodcock have been shot in 

 Guddam (Golconda), Kurrachee, Sitapur, Agra, Mynpuri, Cawnpore, 

 Dacca, Eangoon, Tavoy, Calcutta, Madras, Kanara (away from the 

 the hills), Taipuo, Bombay and many other places. 



Nidification. — There are two points in connection with the breeding 

 of the Woodcock which call especially for remark ; first is the curious 



