ITS HABITS. 189 



on the coast in so-called " flights ; " but this is solely attri- 

 butable, I take it, to their being delayed there by storms 

 and adverse winds. That one often observes numbers 

 in the same cover, as, for instance, in some of the great 

 cock-preserves in Ireland, or in countries bordering on the 

 Mediterranean, where Mr. George Chichester Oxenden 

 assures me he has himself seen fully a dozen on the wing 

 at the same time, is certain ; but this arises, I imagine, 

 from the attraction of food and locality, and not from love 

 of their fellows. 



The Woodcock is to a certain extent a nocturnal bird. 

 Por the most part it passes the day in woods, and then 

 moves but little if left undisturbed;* but at night-fall it 

 betakes itself to the more open country, to moors, pasture 

 fields, &c. — often very far from home— in search of food, 

 where it remains during the night, and does not return to 

 the shelter of the cover until the day begins to break ; and 

 hence the " Cock-droppings " one so often meets with in 

 out-of-the-way places. 



Hilly and wooded localities, intersected by morasses, 

 would seem to be the favourite resorts of the Woodcock 

 in the summer time. Sir Humphry Davy, I observe, 

 believes it to be a fable that this bird raises its young 

 habitually in the alpine or mountainous countries of the 

 central or southern parts of Europe. And in this matter 

 he may possibly be right ; but it is very certain that in 

 Scandinavia the Woodcock is often found very high up 

 in mountains, where, indeed, I myself have met with it 

 amongst stunted brushwood. M. Barth tells us, moreover, 

 that when sporting on the Norwegian fj alls on the 3rd 



* "A laurel- or a holly-bush," says Sir Humphry Davy, " is a favourite 

 place for theii- rejiose : the thick and varnished leaves of these trees 

 I)revent the radiation of heat from the soil, and they are less affected by 

 the refrigerating influence of a clear sky, so that they afford a warm seat 

 for the Woodcock." 



