M'ooDcocK. 595 



back has more of the pale brown and grey, and the rump 

 less of the red, than the females ; but the triangular marks 

 on the outer web of the first quill-feather are rather indi- 

 cations of youth than of sex, and are obliterated by degrees, 

 and in succession, from the base to the end of the feather. 



The weight of a Woodcock, from its great variation, is a 

 matter of interest with the naturalist as Avell as the sportsman. 

 A young male bird of the year, in October, will sometimes 

 weigh only seven ounces ; an old female will frequently weigh 

 fourteen or fifteen ounces. I am indebted to the kindness 

 of Lord Braybrooke for the following particulars of some 

 Woodcocks of very large size, with permission to attach the 

 statements to this history. 



Copy of a letter from Lady Peyton to Miss Hoste, dated 

 Uggeshall, Dec. 25th, 1801. 



" My dear Miss Hoste, 



The Woodcock which Mr. Hoste 

 enquires after, was found sitting on a very low branch of a 

 fir-tree in the long plantation at Narborough,* about eleven 

 o'clock in the morning, by James Crow the postillion, who 

 was exercisinsr the coach-horses. He came back with the 

 intelligence to the house, and the keeper immediately went 

 out and shot the Woodcock. I saw it weighed both in 

 scales and steel-yards, as did Sir Henry, and a carpenter at 

 work from SwafFham ; and, Avonderful as the weight may 

 appear, it was exactly twenty-seven ounces. I believe it was 

 about 1775 or 1776. Some years before that, a Woodcock 

 was killed at Hadleigh, in Suffolk, which weighed twenty- 

 four ounces." 



"Lady Peyton's brother, the late Lord Stradbroke, then Sir 

 John Rous, told me (Lord Braybrooke), he recollected ar- 

 riving at Downham, Sir Henry Peyton's residence, twenty- 



* The snow was deep, and the bird was resting on the branch of a spruce- 

 fir, weighed down to the ground. 



2 Q 2 



