WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 325 



afforded him constant amusement during a whole winter. Of 

 this attachment to a particular spot, and regular return to it, 

 there can be no 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 acci- 

 dentally found by a keeper entangled in a rabbit-net, and pre- 

 served 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 newspaper, 

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

 Castle, the seat of the Earl of Moray, a Woodcock was flushed, 

 which flew 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 dis- 

 covered in it, which, on being disturbed, ran off, uttering 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 knowledge that some 

 other birds were in the habit of transporting either their eggs, 

 or their young, or both, when disturbed, to a place of greater 

 security ; thus, at page 320, we have instanced the case of the 



