818 ' MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



days ; a fact from which we might infer, that in such species 

 a similar separation exists between the sexes during their 

 equatorial migrations/' 



Upon the Sussex coast, woodcocks have been seen at their 

 first dropping, in considerable numbers, in the churchyard, 

 and even in the streets of Rye. 



The woodcock rises heavily from the ground, and makes a 

 noisy flapping with his wings ; when found on a heath, in a 

 hedge-row, or path in a wood, he only skims along the 

 ground ; his flight is seldom rapid, and the marksman can 

 desire no fairer object ; but when sprung in tall wood, where 

 the top must be cleared before he can take a horizontal 

 flight, the woodcock ascends with great vt3locity, and in this 

 case the precise instant of shooting is not easily determined ; 

 when turning and twisting through the branches of the trees 

 it is difficult to catch any aim at him ; and it is believed more 

 woodcocks are killed from firing at them by certain theo- 

 retical rules than by a proper sight of the object. Although 

 the flight of the woodcock for the time is rapid, yet it is sel- 

 dom long supported ; it stops with such promptness as to 

 fall apparently like a dead weight : a few moments after 

 being upon the ground, it runs swiftly, but soon pauses, 

 raises its head, and casts a glance all around, before it ven- 

 tures to look in the herbage or under the stubs, and fre- 

 quently the sportsman, who imagines the bird marked to a 

 certainty, is deceived, by its having tripped away to some 

 distance before he arrived at the spot where he perceived it 

 to alight. Woodcocks are inhabitants of the woods during 

 the whole winter, if the weather is open ; but if severe frosts 

 set in, they will disappear during their continuance, except a 

 few, which by chance may be found in certain coverts, where 

 there are warm springs, which do not freeze. About a 

 month previous to their quitting this country, in the spring, 



