WOODCOCK. GRALLATORES. SCOLOPAX. 113 



as a savoury addition to the rest of the flesh ; in the same 

 manner also Snipes are universally treated. Towards the 

 latter part of February, when the vernal change of plumage 

 commences, the flesh of these birds loses its fine flavour, and 

 becomes strong, the skin also turns dry and scurfy, and 

 they are rarely fit to be presented at the table ; soon after 

 which time they begin to pair ; and, going off in succession, 

 by the middle of April the whole have re-migrated to higher 

 northern latitudes, where they breed and pass the summer 

 months. During the period of their returning flights, should 

 the wind, then blowing from the south and south-west, sud- 

 denly veer round to the north-east, we frequently have an 

 accumulation of Woodcocks on the eastern coast ; but (as I 

 have before observed) they are now out of condition, and 

 therefore never pursued by the sportsman with the same 

 eagerness as in the early part of the season. The nest of j^e t & 

 this bird is generally in thickets, and placed near the root of 

 a bush or tree, and is formed merely by a slight hole, lined 

 with a few dead leaves and stems of grass ; and the eggs 

 (which, as far as I can ascertain, are always four in number), 

 are of yellowish- white, blotched with a pale chestnut-brown 

 colour. In Sweden, and other parts of the continent where 

 it breeds in abundance, the eggs are now considered a deli- 

 cacy for the table, as those of the Green Lapwing have long 

 been in England ; and to this destruction of the breed has 

 been attributed the decrease of Woodcocks so generally com- 

 plained of by our sportsmen for some years past. Its geo- 

 graphical distribution embraces a great part of the ancient 

 continent, as there are few countries within the temperate 

 and frigid zones in which it is not known either as a winter 

 or summer visitant. It has not hitherto been met with in 

 America, but is there represented by a nearly allied species, 

 the Scolopax minor of authors. Being a nocturnal feeder, 

 the eyes of the Woodcock are large and prominent, in order 

 to collect the scattered and indistinct rays of twilight ; their 

 situation also is peculiar, being placed far back in the head, 



VOL. II. H 



