CHAPTER XIV. 



The Woodcock. — Scarce in Scandinavia. — The Cause. — Two Species'? — - 

 Varieties. — Its Habits. — Its Food. — Mode of Feeding. — The 

 Call-note. — Incubation. — Woodcock carrying her Young. — Her 

 Maternal Affection. — Anecdote. — Migration.- — Always Nocturnal. — 

 With the Wind. — Cause of Migration. — " The Lament." 



THE Woodcock {Morkulla, Sw.; Rugde, "^ovw .; Scoloj^ax 

 rusticida, Linn.) was pretty common in the Ronnum 

 country, and a few bred there. With the exception of the 

 extreme south of Sweden, this is the case in all wooded 

 districts throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia, 

 as high up certainly as the Polar circle, and it may even 

 be to the valley of the Alten river, lat. 70°, where Mr. 

 Oxenden Hammond tells me he feels almost assured he 

 saw one of these birds. Their great breeding-grounds 

 would, however, seem to be the more central parts of the 

 Peninsula, for, by all accounts, the farther one proceeds 

 north the scarcer they become. 



" Morkulla," the Swedish name of this bird, comes 

 from mor, red earth, &c., and kuUa, maiden : hence, maid 

 of the moor. In Scania the peasants call it Wal-Snappa, 



