THE WOODCOCK 
menageries. The bill of the kiwi, which has 
the nostrils close to the tip, is even more 
sensitive than that of the woodcock and is 
employed in very similar fashion. At Regent's 
Park the keeper supplies the bird with fresh 
worms so long as the ground is soft enough for 
spade- work. They are left in a pan, and the&iwi 
eats them during the night. In winter, however, 
when worms are not only hard to come by in 
sufficient quantity but also frost-bitten and 
in poor condition, an efficient substitute is 
found in shredded fillet steak, which, whether 
it accepts it for worms or not, the New 
Zealander devours with the same relish. 
When a woodcock lies motionless among 
dead leaves, it is one of the most striking 
illustrations of protective colouring to be 
found anywhere. Time and again the sports- 
man all but treads on one, which is betrayed 
only by its large bright eye. There are men 
who, in their eagerness to add it to the bag, 
do not hesitate in such circumstances to 
shoot a woodcock on the ground, but a man 
so fond of ground game should certainly be 
refused a game-licence and should be allowed 
to shoot nothing but rabbits. 
