WOODCOCK. 13 



for the other two, for several times afterwards I saw them 

 all together in the soft green glade." 



Other instances of the nesting of the Woodcock, and 

 carrying their young in their claws to the feeding-ground, 

 or from danger, have been recorded, or communicated to 

 me by Dr. J. A. Smith of Edinburgh, Mr. William 

 Beattie of Montrose, and by Mr. E. C. Buxton, from 

 Sutherlandshire, in a letter to J. H. Gurney, Esq. 



In the spring of 1843, Mr. George Harrison, game- 

 keeper to the Earl of Lonsdale, found two Woodcocks' 

 nests in Melkinthorpe Woods, near Lowther ; each nest 

 contained four eggs ; both broods were hatched out, and 

 went off. For several years, nests of these birds have 

 been found nearly in the same locality. These woods 

 are strictly preserved, and several young Woodcocks were 

 seen during the summer of 1845. 



Woodcocks are now known to have bred in Yorkshire, 

 Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, 

 Somersetshire, Cornwall, and Herefordshire. 



At the meeting of the British Association held at 

 Cork in August, 1843, Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, called 

 attention to the circumstance of the nidification of the 

 Woodcock in Ireland, with especial reference to Tulla- 

 more Park, in the county of Down, the seat of the Earl 

 of Roden. Here this species was first observed to remain 

 throughout the summer, and rear its young, in 1835; since 

 which period the numbers so remaining have been gradually 

 on the increase ; and in the year 1843, twenty-two nests 

 were found, so that Woodcocks now are as plentiful in 

 summer as in winter in the Park. 



The nests of the Woodcock have been already noticed ; 

 the eggs are of a pale yellowish white ; the larger end 

 blotched and spotted with ash grey, and two shades of 

 reddish yellow brown : the length one inch nine lines, 



