THE WOODCOCK 291 



the covert, keeping near to the ground till it reaches the open, when 

 it suddenly rises to a considerable height, and at great speed makes 

 for its favourite marsh or swamp, dropping suddenly like a stone 

 when this is reached. With the coming of dawn a return is made to 

 the favourite wood. But first it wheels about for a short space, often 

 uttering a peculiar cry : and after a few turns it suddenly rises high in 

 the air and makes a bee-line for the covert, descending with a sudden 

 swoop, and darting along the glade by which it left, speedily settles 

 down in its accustomed resting-place. 



It is a curious fact, remarks Mr. De Yisme Shaw, 1 but " in every 

 wood or covert favoured by woodcock there is always a certain open- 

 ing, generally the end of a ride, by which the birds leave and re-enter 

 their home. ... It seems the more curious when we consider that 

 cocks do not leave the covert together, but always singly, one after 

 another. Between the time of the exit of the first bird . . . and that 

 of the last, there is never an interval of more than a quarter of an 

 hour or twenty minutes. As our forefathers set their cockshut nets 

 at these openings, and waited for the flight of the cock, so do certain 

 moderns who shoot for the pot, or the pocket, take up their stand at 

 the same dusky hour. After ascertaining which opening in the wood is 

 used by woodcock, one may, if anything of a flight shot, account for 

 nearly every bird." 



The only things that seem to disturb the even tenor of the wood- 

 cocks ways are a spell of sharp frost or continued wet. Heavy rain, 

 or even " Scotch mist," sooner or later causes the trees to drip, which 

 apparently occasions the bird great discomfort, for it will promptly shift 

 its quarters to open ground. Frost is still more disconcerting. Bog 

 and water-meadow now cease to yield their supply of worms, and the 

 famishing bird is driven for food to the drains in the deepest hollows 

 of the wood, where diligent search among the dead leaves may pro- 

 vide small snails and insects. Night hunting is now impossible, and 

 the day rarely yields a full meal. Should the frost continue, a general 



1 Snipe and Woodcock, Fur, Feather, and Fin.Series, p. 136. 

 VOL. III. 2 P 



