OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 287 



Nidif ication. As previously inferred, the breeding season of the Woodcock 

 is an early one. Even in the north of Scotland its eggs have been taken on the 

 9th of March ; a week earlier still in the north of England. The majority of the 

 eggs are laid during April. The Snipes are birds remarkable for their peculiar 

 flight and for the singular sounds they produce during the love or pairing season. 

 The Woodcock, although somewhat aberrant, is not wanting in this curious 

 performance. With the approach of the pairing season the habits of the male 

 undergo considerable change. From being one of the shyest and most skulking 

 of birds he suddenly changes, for a certain time each day, into a bold and 

 obtrusive one. For a quarter of an hour in the early morning and again at night 

 the male birds fly slowly to and fro along certain routes, usually a " drive " or an 

 open glade in the woods or along the borders of the plantations and spinneys, 

 uttering two peculiar notes, sometimes in succession, at others only one of them. 

 One of these notes is a harsh, guttural r-r-r-r-Jc, the other a cry between a whistle 

 and a hiss, impossible to express on paper. Whilst " roding," as it is termed, 

 should rival males meet each other a chase and a combat very often occur, incited 

 more probably by invasion of haunt rather than the favour of the female. The 

 nest is made in a dry secluded corner of the wood or spinney, where plenty of 

 cover is to be found in the form of last year's withered bracken, tall dry grass, 

 brambles, and drifts of fallen leaves. It is merely a hollow in the ground, rather 

 thickly lined with dry grass and withered leaves, and is usually sheltered more or 

 less with surrounding vegetation, but sometimes in a bare spot at the foot of a 

 tree. The lining materials are occasionally increased whilst incubation is in 

 progress. The eggs of the Woodcock are four in number, and vary in ground- 

 colour from very pale yellowish-brown to bufnsh-brown, rather sparingly spotted 

 and blotched with reddish-brown, and with underlying markings of grey. They 

 measure on an average 1'7 inch in length by T35 inch in breadth. Incubation 

 lasts about three weeks. The Woodcock is a close sitter and usually remains 

 upon the eggs until the last moment ; rarely, if ever, are both parents seen near 

 the nest together. Whether the eggs are ever covered when they are left 

 voluntarily I cannot say, but I strongly suspect that such will prove to be the 

 case. Although this species is solitary enough during the breeding season, as at 

 most other times, several nests may frequently be found within a small area, 

 especially in districts where suitable sites are not very common. One brood only 

 is usually reared in the year, but instances are on record where fresh eggs have 

 been found in July and August. St. John states that this species is double- 

 brooded in Scotland, and this is also the experience of Hume in India. There can 

 be no question that the female Woodcock very often removes her brood from place 

 to place, carrying the chicks one at a time between her legs and pressed close to 

 the body with her bill. It has even been stated that where the favourite feedin^ 



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grounds are some distance from the nesting place the chicks are carried to them 



