96 NOTES TO THE 



" W. H." writes in Land and Water : " The song of the ring- 

 ouzel is both mellow and clear. During the spring and summer 

 months their food consists almost entirely of insects." 



FEEDING YOUNG ON THE WING, p, 110. The sand and house 

 martin feed their young on the wing ; the mother makes a cluck- 

 ing call, they meet in the air, and away they go again. The 

 transfer is done in a moment; they merely catch the insect and 

 deliver it to the young. 



The late broods of martins stay in the nest till they are per- 

 fect on the wing, and then take flight and migrate with the old. 



WOODCOCKS, p. 110. A great game preserver writes me: 

 " Woodcocks' nests in this country have been carefully watched, 

 and the eggs when protected have generally hatched out ; but 

 the young, we may venture to say, have never been seen in or 

 upon the nest, if the dead leaves or spot chosen by the wood- 

 cock to deposit her eggs upon can be called a nest. Without 

 doubt the woodcock removes her young to a neighbourhood 

 where food is plentiful, but makes her nest on bare and dry 

 ground, and where one would least expect to find it." 



Various theories exist in different localities as to which wind 

 brings woodcocks, and whether any particular quarter of the 

 moon favours tneir flight ; certain it is that they make their 

 appearance every year nearly to a day, and that frost has more 

 than anything else to do with their remaining or taking their 

 departure. 



A long correspondence took place some time since, on 

 the subject of the woodcock carrying its young Avith its 

 beak or claws. This matter is not settled yet. Professor 

 Quekett discovered in the stomach of a woodcock some very 

 curious-looking hairs : having examined them with a micro- 

 scope, he pronounced them to be the hairs of the earthworm. 

 These hairs can be found in the living earthworm in the 

 hollows between the rings which form the head. 



I hear from my friend Col. Maxse, Governor of Heligoland, 

 that it is customary in that island to hang up nets across the 

 streets at night. The woodcocks migrating from the Conti- 

 nent run their heads into the meshes of the net and thus get 

 caught. 



WATER-OUSEL, p. 112. " The dipper, or water-ouzel (Cinclus 

 aquaticus}" Mr. Napier writes, "breeds in Yorkshire, Derby- 

 shire, Devonshire, many parts of Wales and Scotland, and often 

 commences its nest early in April. The nest resembles that 



