THE PLOVER TRIBE 



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or by the tibia being feathered almost or completely to the joint. Essentially noc- 

 turnal and solitary in its habits, the woodcock passes the day skulking among the 

 thick shade of woods, from whence it issues forth at evening to search for food in 

 the marshes or along the banks of streams. Worms, of which it will consume a 

 prodigious quantity, form its chief nutriment; and it appears that it ascertains the 



WOODCOCK IN COVERT. 



position of these creatures by plunging its beak deep down into the mud and re- 

 maining motionless for a few seconds. If any subterranean movement is then 

 detected, the beak is once more plunged in the direction indicated, and the hapless 

 worm extracted. When flushed during daylight, the woodcock rises with a "whirr " 

 of its wings, and occasionally uttering a snipe-like cry. It always flies much less 



