TO PRESERVE BIRDS. 239 



little one will then appear conspicuous from its sharp 

 white point. 



To prove, that woodcocks, on having migrated into this country, 

 will repair to the same haunts for a succession of winters, I shall 

 mention a circumstance, not as having pilfered it from Mr. Bewick 

 or Mr. Daniel, but because it was related to me by Mr. Pleydell 

 himself, when I was at Whatcombe House, where the bird is now 

 preserved. In Clenston Wood (a covert belonging to the above 

 place, in Dorsetshire), a woodcock was taken alive, in one of the 

 rabbit nets, in the month of February, 1798. Mr. Pleydell, after 

 having a piece of brass marked, and put round its left leg, allowed 

 the bird to be set at liberty; and, in the month of December follow- 

 ing, he shot this woodcock, in the very same coppice where it had 

 been first caught by his gamekeeper. 



Although it is here wished to abstain from all anecdotes, that may 

 not be considered of some little use in the way of information, yet, 

 while on the subject of woodcocks, I shall take the liberty of men- 

 tioning one circumstance, that occurred to myself on the 25th of 

 January, 1810. It was, soon after, very correctly stated in a news- 

 paper ; but, no wonder, considered by many as an absurd and im- 

 probable assertion ; and for this reason I shall, in quoting the para- 

 graph here, add, that the circumstance took place in the presence of 

 the Rev. W. Nourse and two other gentlemen. " A few days ago, 

 a woodcock flew up the lawn, and dropped close before Longparish 

 House, in Hampshire ; and was shot from the window, by Captain 

 Hawker, who, having been wounded in Spain, was there confined to 

 his room. What makes the circumstance more remarkable is, that 

 it happened in a country where it is very rare to see three of these 

 birds in a season ; and that a friend of his had laid a bet, he would 

 be well enough to shoot a cock before the winter was over." 



TO PRESERVE AND CHOOSE BIRDS, 



&c. &c. 



To distinguish specifically the foregoing birds, I 

 refer my readers to Bewick ; presuming, as I have re- 

 peatedly hinted, that no one, who has the least interest 



