190 ITS FOOD. 



September, 1864, he shot with his first bari'el a Dal-E-ipa, 

 and with his second a Teal, that rose at the discharge of 

 his gun ; on the 11th a Pjiill-Ripa with his first barrel, and 

 a Dal-Ripa, that took wing at the shot, with his second ; 

 and immediately afterwards he killed, right and left, a 

 Dal-E,ipa and a Woodcock that flew up simultaneously. 

 " Thus in a willow brake of a couple of hundred ells in 

 length," he continues, " there were lying Dal-Ripa, Pjall- 

 Ripa, and Woodcock." 



Professor Rasch writes me, besides, that " the Wood- 

 cock is often found in the willow region ; and that a friend 

 of his, M. Friis, a Northerner, and capital shot, has 

 killed a couple of these birds in the month of September 

 at an elevation of at least 3,800 feet above the level of 

 the sea ; " and adds : " In the pairing season I do not think 

 it goes above the limits of the pine region ; but later in 

 the year it is allured higher up by the abundance of food 

 that is procurable there." 



The food of the Woodcock consists of earthworms, 

 small beetles, and various kinds of larvae. Nilsson tells us 

 that tender grass and grass-roots have been found in its 

 stomach ; and Ekstrom, that " it is said to feed on blea- 

 bei'ries and certain water plants." " Its stomach," says 

 Sir Humphry Davy, " sometimes contains seeds, which 

 I suspect have been taken up in ' boring ' amongst the 

 excrements of cattle. Yet the stomach of this bird 

 has something of the gizzard character, though not 

 so much as that of the Land-Hail, which I have found 

 half-filled with seeds of grasses, and even containing 

 corn, mixed with May-bugs, earthworms, grasshoppers, 

 and cateri^illars." 



The Woodcock's manner of feeding is singular, and is 

 thus described by Daniel, as observed in an aviary at St. 

 Ildephonso, in Spain: — "There was a fountain perpetually 

 flowing to keep the ground moist, and trees planted for 



