CHAP. TWENTY-EIGHT WOODCOCK 



tirely disappear from woods where any day in June or 

 July I could find several brace. In September and the be- 

 ginning of October I could never find a single bird, though 

 I have repeatedly tried to do so. A few come in October; 

 but the greatest number which visit this country arrive 

 at the November full-moon; these birds invariably taking 

 advantage of the lightest nights for their journey. In many 

 parts of the country near the coast, the day, and almost 

 the hour, of their arrival can be accurately calculated on, 

 as also the particular thickets and coverts where the first 

 birds alight. 



The snipe also begins to breed in March, though it is 

 not quite so early a bird as the woodcock. Snipes hatch 

 their young in this country, breeding and rearing them in 

 the swamps, or near the springs on the mountains. During 

 the pairing time the snipes fly about all day, hovering and 

 wheeling in the air above the rushes where the female 

 bird lies concealed, and uttering their peculiar cry, which 

 resembles exactly the bleating of a goat, and from which 

 they have one of their Gaelic names, which signifies the 

 air-goat.* 



About the end of July and first week in August the 

 snipes descend from the higher grounds, and collect in 

 great numbers about certain favourite places. They re- 

 main in these spots for a week or ten days, and then dis- 

 perse. The rest of the season we have but few in this part 



various parts of the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, St John was probably right in be- 

 lieving that the great majority of British-bred woodcocks migrate southward in winter 

 —Ed. 



* Gobhair-adhair, which seems a long name for so diminutive a bird, but is pro- 

 nounced "gour-ayr." — Ed. 



