SCOLOPAS RUSTICOLA 15 



for qnite half a minute over it, before she could pull the little one 

 clear and fly a few yards further down, when she alighted but rose 

 again, when I sent a man to try to catch the young one." 



A friend in Scotland to whom I wrote to obtain information on 

 this point informs me that he has only once certainly seen the 

 Woodcock carry its young, though he believes that on two or three 

 occasions when he has disturbed cock in spring they carried away 

 a young one with them. On the occasion he refers to as having 

 distinctly seen what happened, he writes /;; cpistold : — • 



" We came on this bird very suddenly and she rose almost at 

 my feet and made off with a young one held tightly up against her 

 breast, and I think, held on either side by her claws. As she left 

 three young ones behind her when she first flew away, I at once hid 

 myself and awaited to see what further she would do. In a few 

 minutes back came the old lady and dropped on the ground close 

 to the nest and after scu filing about a bit she grasped one of the 

 young ones on cither side and picked it up. As she rose I could see 

 that her extended legs held the young one low down on either side, 

 but she at once drew up her legs close to her body and then appeared 

 to be holding it between her breast and thighs, this of course owing 

 to the contracted position of her legs. Once started she flew quite 

 easily to some distance, but seemed to find it rather difficult to get a 

 comfortable hold of the young ones at first. She removed all four 

 a distance of nearly 50 yards within about a quarter of an hour." 



It is not definitely known whether both parents share in the 

 labour of removal, but it is probable that such is the case. Indeed, 

 from Davidson's note given above, it would appear rather as if whilst 

 he was following one of the parent birds, the other had carried off 

 the remaining youngster. 



It is possible that the removals are not always due to the birds 

 being disturbed, and it may be that they are undertaken also for the 

 purpose of getting to fresh feeding grounds. Some game-keepers, 

 indeed, assert that Woodcock constantly and habitually thus carry 

 their young to and from their nest and the feeding grounds. On 

 several occasions young Woodcocks known to be in one place have 

 been found removed to some distance, although, as far as was known, 

 no disturbing element had approached the original nest site. 



The Woodcock breeds very freely throughout the Himalayas at 

 10,000 feet upwards and probably also very much lower down, 



