202 THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



residents in this country the season for shooting them 

 must be limited by law, and should begin, as in the case 

 of the pheasant, on ist October, and terminate on ist 

 February. I may remind sportsmen that on the Duke of 

 Northumberland's estate of Hulme Abbey, Alnwick, 

 woodcock have been marked every year since 1891, and a 

 careful record is kept of all the marked birds afterwards 

 discovered and shot. 



Until recent years it was a common delusion that long 

 billed birds, such as woodcock and snipe, lived by suction 

 alone, though most upholders of this view would have 

 found themselves at a loss if asked to explain how this 

 could possibly be the case. What nourishment could be 

 drawn from the ground by this means is hard to imagine, 

 but the idea prevailed, and, though long since exploded, 

 is not infrequently stated by ignorant people who wish to 

 pose as ornithologists at the present day. It was possibly 

 fostered by the uncertainty surrounding the movements 

 and habits of these species, for in the rustic imagination 

 "these 'ere foreigners" are credited with powers of which 

 no resident species can boast. 



Strictly speaking, the curlew should be classed with the 

 longbills mentioned above, for their food is very similar, 

 though the habits and movements of this "watch-dog of 

 the moors" are peculiar to itself alone. Long-billed birds 

 generally lay pointed eggs, and, with few exceptions, the 

 nests are made on the ground, and the materials used in 

 their formation are of the scantiest, consisting merely of 

 dry grass, hay, and a few odd pieces of straw, rushes, etc. 

 The curlew however, only lays two, or at most three, 

 eggs, and it is exceedingly rare to find four in one clutch. 

 The woodcock lays four, beautifully mottled with rich 

 brown, while those of the snipe resemble the well-known 

 eggs of the lapwing on a smaller scale, being, however, 

 somewhat darker in shade. Woodcock often rear two 

 broods, and it is not uncommon to find incubation still in 

 progress at the beginning of August, especially when the 

 spring has been accompanied by late frosts and snow. 



