The Bird that (Carries its Young 



A FEW woodcock nest in this country, but most of them 

 come in in October, and depart in March for northern 

 Europe. 



The woodcock is one of those beautiful birds of 

 sober hue, painted by Nature in such colours and 

 patterns as best conceal it, in its natural haunts a 

 large reddish-brown bird, curiously barred and mottled, 

 only by its bright eye to be distinguished from the 

 shadows and the fallen leaves of the shady woodland 

 places which it haunts by day ; for this is a night- 

 flying bird. The long beak is a spear for probing soft 

 boglands for grubs and earthworms. 



So long ago as Gilbert White's day the idea was 

 known that woodcock carry their young. It was 

 suggested that they carried them in their beaks ; but 

 Gilbert White could not accept this. " I have only to 

 remark," he said, " that the long unwieldy bill of the 

 woodcock is, perhaps, the worst adapted of any among 

 the winged creation for such a feat of natural affec- 

 tion." 



The object of the mother bird in carrying her young 

 would be to remove them to a place of safety in case 

 of danger, or to take them, after they had been 

 hatched in a dry place, to a swamp or bog where food 

 could be found easily. 



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