130 GAME BIRDS. 



and both wings. The man had often found birds which had killed 

 themselves by flying against the windows, but never before knew 

 of the glass to be injured. On their first arrival they are com- 

 monly poor, as if wasted by their long journey. In 1796, Mr. 

 Yea, of Swansea, killed one hundred couple of woodcocks in one 

 season. In Ireland, the Earl of Claremont, shot half as many in 

 a day. They are so abundant, that they have been sold, near 

 Ballyshannon, in the county Donegal, for one penny each. They 

 have been successfully bred in captivity, but it is most difficult to 

 supply them, in sufficient quantity, with their favourite food, 

 their digestion being most rapid. The weight of the woodcock 

 is usually about twelve ounces, the length near fourteen inches, 

 the breadth twenty-six. The bill is three inches long, dusky 

 towards the end, reddish at the base ; the tongue slender, long, 

 sharp, and hard at the point ; the eyes large, and placed near the 

 top of the head, that they may not be injured when the bird 

 thrusts his bill into the ground ; from the bill to the eyes is a 

 black line ; the forehead is of a reddish-ash colour, the crown of 

 the head, the hind part of the neck, the back, the coverts of the 

 wings, and the scapulars are prettily barred with a ferruginous 

 red, black, and gray, but on the head the black predominates ; 

 the quill feathers are dusky, indented with red marks ; the chin 

 is of a pale yellow, the whole underside of the body is of a dirty 

 white, marked with numerous transverse lines of a dusky colour ; 

 the tail consists of twelve feathers, dusky or black on the one 

 web, and marked with red on the other ; the hips above are ash- 

 coloured, below white ; the legs and toes are livid, the latter 

 divided almost to their origin, having only a very small web 

 between the middle and interior toes, as are those of the different 

 species of snipe found in Great Britain. They sometimes vary 

 in colour fawn-coloured and white are not unfrequent. 



Small spaniels are used for cock-shooting, called cockers or 

 springers ; they give notice by barking when the bird rises. 



Having disposed of the game-birds, I shall next endeavour to 

 describe our various water- fowl, known as British birds. 



