WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 36? 



doubt ; we have already alluded to it in the case of other 

 birds, and Woodcocks and Snipes seem to form no 

 exceptions to the practice. One instance amongst many 

 will be sufficient to prove the fact. A Woodcock was 

 accidentally found by a keeper, entangled in a rabbit-net 

 and preserved alive ; a brass ring was put on its left leg, 

 and it was turned loose. This occurred in February. 

 On finding itself at liberty, it rose to a very great height 

 in the air, and directed its flight towards the sea, from 

 whence it was distant about twenty miles. In December, 

 this same bird was shot in the same wood where it had 

 been captured in the preceding February. 



That Woodcocks, however, can and do breed in this 

 country is beyond a doubt ; instances without end have 

 occurred; one of which alone we shall notice, on account 

 of a very curious circumstance connected with it. 



The communication first appeared in a Scotch news- 

 paper, the Elgin Courier. In the month of April, near 

 Dornaway Castle, the seat of the Earl of Moray, a 

 Woodcock was flushed, which flew away as if wounded. 

 On a person, who was present, remarking this to the 

 gamekeeper, the latter observed, that the bird was not 

 wounded, but was carrying off a young one in her talons, 

 and that no doubt the nest was close at hand : this was 

 found to be the case, and two other young ones were 

 discovered in it which, on being disturbed, ran off, utter- 

 ing a piping note. The keeper spoke very positively of 

 its being customary with the old birds to fly off every 

 morning and evening with the young ones to the nearest 

 springs, and when they were fed, they were conveyed 

 back to the nest in a similar manner. 



In the first edition of this work we expressed a doubt 

 as to the correctness of the keeper's account, admitting 

 only the possibility that it might be true, from a know- 

 ledge that some other birds were in the habit of transport- 

 ing either their eggs or their young, or both, when dis- 

 turbed, to a place of greater security; thus, at page 359, 

 we have instanced the case of the Ring-Dotterel, and we 



