THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 197 



second month of the year will sharply cause their depar- 

 ture. Hence the circular addressed by the Field Sports 

 and Game Guild (with Lord Westbury as chairman) to the 

 various committees of the Wild Birds' Protection Act 

 under County Councils, calling attention to the unsatis- 

 factory regulations with respect to woodcock and their 

 eggs. 



As considerable confusion arises out of the multiplicity 

 of orders and the inconsistency of dates even in counties 

 which adjoin, it is suggested that the Home Secretary 

 be petitioned to cancel all orders now in force, and, 

 for the simplifying of the law, make them uniform for 

 general application throughout the whole of England and 

 Wales. The mean fence-time hitherto existing may be 

 said to extend from March ist to August 3ist; but 

 February ist or 2nd is the new date selected by the Field 

 Sports and Game Guild, the protection to last until August 

 1 2th. 



I have had several pairs of breeding woodcock under 

 observation during recent years, and obtained records of 

 others from game-preservers on estates where they have 

 been absent before. 



In a favourable season the pairing seems to be fully 

 accomplished by the first week in March. The "nests" are 

 made in fairly warm, unwatered thickets often near the 

 base of the grouse moors, some being in larch woods, 

 where the trees average 6oft. high, where the ground is at 

 ordinary times hard and dry, and the nearest boring 

 ground over a mile away. The nidus, or apology for a 

 nest, is in all cases a slight hollow or scoop near or among 

 decayed leaves, preference being shown, I think, for the 

 "needles" of a pine or fir the worse for decay; but, at any 

 rate, there is a tree in the immediate vicinity. The nidus 

 is largely composed of local foliaceous matter, eke dry 

 grass. 



It is not surprising that I almost trod upon one of these 

 "nests" quite accidentally one day, for gamekeepers have 

 been known to miss the bird herself while squatting in <he 



