Til K WOODCOCK.] LY FIELD, WOOD, AiSlJ WATER. [xiii: woodcock. 



it, the entrails nre not drawn, but roasted 

 within the bird, wlicnt'o they drop out with 

 the gravy, upon slices of toasted bread, ami 

 are relished as a delicious kind of sauce. The 

 Italians and Trench have caeh particular 

 modes of preparing this bird for tlio table, 

 which they do in such excellent stylo as to 

 leave an impression ou the palate of the eater 

 for some time after. 



The woodcock is migratory in its habits, and 

 "cnerally arrives in the south of England 

 during the month of October. It does not 

 come in large flocks, but in ones or twos, till 

 about the month of December. They are, very 

 probably, much influenced in their movements 

 by the wind, which, if it blow from a conti- 

 nental quarter, is more likely to aid their flight 

 than when it comes from the opposite direc- 

 tion. The birds have a singular instinct of 

 landing only in the night, or in dark misty 

 weather ; for they are never seen to arrive by 

 dav, but are frequently found next morning in 

 anv ditch which could afford them shelter, 

 particularly after the great fatigue they must 

 have undergone in bufleting the adverse winds 

 which they must frequently have to encounter 

 in their aerial voyages. They do not remain 

 on the shores to take their rest longer than a 

 day, but proceed inland to the very same haunts 

 which they occupied during the preceding 

 season. In stormy weather they retire to the 

 moors and mountains ; but as soon as the frost 

 sets in, and the snow begins to fall, they re- 

 turn to lower and more congenial situations, 

 where they meet with boggy grounds and 

 springs, and little oozing moss-fringed rills 

 which are rarely frozen, and seek the shelter 

 of the close bushes of holly, furze, and brakes 

 in the glens, or dells which are covered with 

 underwood. There they remain concealed 

 during the day, and remove to difl'erent haunts, 

 and feed only in the night. Prom the begin- 

 ning to the end of March, or sometimes to the 

 middle of April, they gradually approach the 

 coasts, and avail themselves of the first fair 

 wind to return to their native woods. Should 

 the weather be unfavourable to their migrating, 

 they will delay their departure, when their 

 numbers increase by degrees, and when tliey 

 are more easily found and destroyed by their 

 numerous enemies. 



Other accounts sav that thev leave the north 



with tlio first frost, and travel slowly Bouth- 

 warils till they come to their accustomed winter 

 quarters. They do not usually make a quick 

 voyage, but fly from wood to wood, reposing 

 and feeding on their journey ; selecting such 

 woody haunts as are in the vicinity of moist 

 and marshy springs. They conceal themselves 

 under thick bushes by day, and fly abroad to 

 feed in the dusk of the evening. A laurel or 

 holly-bush forms a favourite place for their 

 repose. The thick and glossy leaves of thc-'O 

 trees prevent the radiation of heat from tho 

 soil, and they are less afiected by the refrige- 

 rating influence of a clear sky, so that they 

 aflbrd a warm and comfortable retreat for tho 

 woodcock. These birds usually take to tho 

 north on the first approach of spring, and their 

 flights are generally longer, and their rests 

 fewer at this season than in autumn. In tho 

 latter they are driven from tho north to t!ie 

 south by the want of food, and they stop 

 wherever they can find it. In the spring there 

 is the influence of another powerful instinct 

 added to this — tho sexual feeling. They 

 migrate in pairs, and pass as speedily as pos- 

 sible to the place where they are likely to find 

 food, and where they can rear their young with 

 the i)robability of being unmolested, of which 

 the old birds have already had the experience of 

 former years. Scarcely any woodcocks winter 

 in any part of Germany. In France there aro 

 a few found, particularly in the southern de- 

 partments ; and in Kormandy and Brittany. 

 The woods of England, especially of the west 

 and south, contain always a certain number of 

 these birds ; but there are far more in the moist 

 soil and warmer climate of Ireland. lu the 

 woods of southern Italy and Greece, near 

 marshes, they are still more abundant; and 

 they are generally difl'used over the Greek 

 islands, Asia Minor, and Northern Africa. 



"Woodcocks have been known to settle upon 

 a vessel at sea. Mr. Travers, of Cornwall, 

 records an instance of this, when at such a dis- 

 tance from land as to make it rare for birds to 

 be seen. AVhen first discerned, it was high 

 in the air, hovering above the ship, but grad- 

 ually descended; and, after making several 

 circuits round the vessel, at length alighted ou 

 the deck. Its exhaustion was so great, that 

 it allowed itself to be takeu up by the hand. 



In their flight, woodcocks, like other birds, 



1)3/ 



