266 THE WOODCOCK, 



more than a few hundred yards at a time. Wood- 

 cocks may be almost called nocturnal birds. They 

 feed in the night, and also perform their migra- 

 tions in the night, and are admirably adapted to 

 do this from their peculiar structure. There is 

 also another circumstance respecting the wood- 

 cock which may not be generally known. This 

 bird is now ascertained to breed very frequently in 

 many parts of England and Scotland ; the nests, 

 which almost invariably contain four eggs, are 

 found in warm and dry situations, and as soon as 

 the eggs are hatched the old birds immediately 

 remove the young ones by taking them up in their 

 feet, and conveying them to soft ground where 

 they can find worms or insects. I have been as- 

 sured by an officer of rank in the army, that he 

 has not only repeatedly seen the removal of the 

 young birds in this manner, but that his compa- 

 nion shot an old bird with a young one in its claws. 

 If the woodcock were to build in low, swampy 

 situations, the eggs, which are laid early in the 

 Spring, would be liable to be chilled from rains, or 

 perhaps flooded over. It is a peculiar instinct, 

 therefore, which induces the bird to make its nest 



gate, informs us that some quails remain all the year in the Isle of 

 Thanet, and breed there. Mr. Mummery also informs us that 

 he considers that he has discovered two distinct species of the 

 wheatear. J. M. 



