THE WOODCOCK. 403 



man sportsmen call Stein-Schnepfe, or Stone-Woodcock. 

 The latter is described as being nearly one-third lesser of 

 the two; as of a darker colour and marked with closer 

 black spots and bars ; bluish legs ; and shorter, ash-grey 

 coloured neck. It flies quicker and frequents more elevated 

 districts. It also arrives earlier in the spring, and departs 

 later in the autumn. But may not naturalists in this 

 matter be splitting hairs, and the difference observable be 

 dependent on the countries where the birds are bred ? In 

 Lapland, for instance, the capercali to say nothing of its 

 being said to differ slightly in plumage rarely or never 

 weighs more than seven or eight pounds ; whereas in the 

 more southern parts of Sweden it is not unfrequently met 

 with weighing fourteen to sixteen pounds. 



Though very many woodcocks breed in Scandinavia, the 

 impression on my mind is that a large portion of those that 

 visit England and the central parts of Europe in the winter, 

 pass the summer months in countries to the eastward of the 

 peninsula. And I am strengthened in this belief from the 

 fact, that the island of Gottland is, by all accounts, visited 

 during migration by more woodcocks than any other portion 

 of Scandinavia. 



The woodcock, as is pretty well ascertained, is in the habit 

 of bearing her young to the feeding-ground, even though 

 it be at a considerable distance. She is very tender of 

 them. Should a dog approach the nest, she, like the 

 partridge, and some other birds, adopts every expedient to 

 decoy the animal away from the spot. She will run before 

 him with drooping wings and outspread tail; or she will 

 fly with hanging legs and head, as if wounded, immediately 

 before his nose, until such time as she has drawn him to a 



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