238 THE WOODCOCK. 



Tunnel. 1 They had four eggs, but one was broken by the 

 discoverer of the nest. June 4:th. They have left their 

 nest with an addled egg and some egg-shells in it, taking 

 with them two hatched young." A paragraph in the 

 Berwickshire News of the 21st of August 1884 states 

 that " a few days ago a young Woodcock was found in 

 Duns Castle Woods under circumstances which showed that 

 it had been bred there. In the spring of 1886 a Wood- 

 cock's nest with four eggs was got in these plantations ; 

 and another containing the same number of eggs was dis- 

 covered in the Peely Braes Wood, near Duns Castle, by Mr. 

 William Smith, gamekeeper there, on the 3rd of April 

 1890, who informed me that from the appearance of the 

 eggs at the time when they were found incubation had 

 only recently begun, and that they were hatched in fifteen 

 days. 



It is now well known that in the evening the Woodcock 

 carries its young between its legs and pressed against its 

 breast with its bill, from the dry places in the woods where 

 they are hatched, to soft swampy spots in the neighbour- 

 hood, where they can feed. 



Externally the female cannot be distinguished from the 

 male bird. The peculiar markings on the first quill feathers 

 are not constant, and are thought to be indicative of age 

 rather than of sex. 2 



The average weight of a Woodcock is twelve ounces ; 

 young birds are much lighter, being seven or eight 

 ounces. 3 



A popular saying sometimes heard on the Borders is 



1 Mr. Abraham Mack, Abbey St. Bathans, told me on the 5th of July 1886 

 that he found a Woodcock's nest near the side of Penmanshiel Wood in the summer 

 of 1827. It had two eggs, and was on a dry knowe amongst some stumped heather 

 near some birch bushes. He saw the old bird sitting on the nest several times. 



2 See The Field, 9th January 1886. 



