588 SCOLOPACID.E, 



cockslioots, and cc^ckroads, and it is in these places that nets 

 were formerly suspended for their capture, but the gun is 

 now the more common means of obtaining them. A few 

 may still be caught with nooses of horse-hair, set up about 

 the springs or soft ground Avhere the birds leave the marks 

 of the perforations, or borings made with their beaks. The 

 common earth worms appear to be the food most eagerly 

 sought after. Two or three ornithologists have borne testi- 

 mony to the almost incredible quantity of earth worms which 

 a single Woodcock, in confinement, has been known to con- 

 sume in one night ; and Daniels has thus described their 

 mode of feeding 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 the same pur- 

 pose, fresh sod was brought to them, the richest in worms 

 that could be found ; in vain did the worms seek concealment, 

 when the Woodcock was hungry it discovered them by the 

 smell, stuck its beak into the ground, but never higher than 

 the nostrils, drew them out singly, and raising its bill into 

 the air, it extended upon it the whole length of the worm, 

 and in this way swallowed it smoothly, without any action 

 of the jaws ; this whole operation was performed in an in- 

 stant, and the action of the Woodcock was so equal and im- 

 l^erceptible, that it seemed doing nothing ; it never missed 

 its aim ; for this reason, and because it never plunged its bill 

 beyond the orifice of the nostrils, it was concluded that the 

 bird was directed to its food by smell." 



Woodcocks appear to leave this country by the same route 

 on which, as here mentioned, they have been observed to 

 come ; namely, our eastern coast. Mr. Williamson, in his 

 remarks on birds in the vicinity of Scarborough, says, " good 

 sport is sometimes gained at Woodcock shooting in March, 

 when from any cause these birds are prevented continuing 

 their journey northward. In one or two instances a Wood- 

 cock has been seen here as late as June." 



