SCOLOPACID.E. 231 



and breast is of a reddish gray, or buff colour, and 

 in this state of plumage it is sometimes mistaken 

 for that rare bird, the buff-breasted sandpiper, by 

 those who have never seen an example of the lat- 

 ter species. Mr. Yarrell has clearly pointed out 

 the distinctions. 



WOODCOCK, Scolopax rusticola. Abundant in 

 many of the great woods of Sussex during the win- 

 ter. Breeds regularly in some parts of the weald. 

 At Hollycombe young woodcocks are found every 

 summer,* and Sir Charles Taylor has shown me 

 the female bird sitting on its eggs in a plantation 

 within a few minutes' walk of the house. The nest 

 is a mere hollow in the ground, lined with a few 

 dead leaves. I have also seen another in the 

 act of incubation, in an oak coppice at Barkfold, 

 near Kirdford. By cautiously creeping towards 

 the spot on my hands and knees, I succeeded in 

 approaching within a few yards, and could see the- 

 full black eye of the bird apparently fixed upon 

 me. When at last sufficiently alarmed to quit the 

 nest, instead of flying away hurriedly, she quietly 

 slipped off it, and ran with an almost noiseless 

 pace for about twenty yards before she took wing. 

 The eggs, four in number, were subsequently 

 hatched. 



* Vide Jesse's ' Gleanings in Natural History,' vol. ii. 

 p. 184. 



