226 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



England, as a fable ; but, from the number of 

 similar instances since recorded, it is now, I believe, 

 received as an admitted fact in both countries that 

 Woodcocks, when their young are in jeopardy, not 

 unfrequently thus convey them to a place of safety." 

 One of the brothers Stuart, who, in the second 

 volume of the Lays of the Deer Forest, have given 

 such a graphic account of the wild animals of Scot- 

 land, from personal observation of their habits, thus 



refers to the bird now under discussion : 





 " The Woodcock breeds to a considerable extent 



in most parts of the forest, and also in other woods 

 of Morayshire, the Aird of Inverness, and on the 

 Dee, the Don, the Spey, and other parts of the 

 Highlands ; but, within our knowledge, nowhere so 

 numerously as in Tarnaway. Without any search, 

 and merely in the accidental occasions of roe-hunting, 

 we have found, in one season, nineteen nests with 

 eggs. It would, however, be more proper to say 

 * beds,' rather than ' nests ;' for, like those of the 

 Plover, they are merely slight hollows formed by 

 the nestling of the bird's breast in dry soft spots, or 

 on the fallen leaves. They generally lay three 

 eggs, sometimes four, and occasionally, but rarely, 



