66 



THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



An enormous number of woodcock are destroyed almost every year during 

 the autumn migration, and yet they return again and again. It is supposed that 

 their principal breeding-grounds are the lonely woods of northern Russia and the 

 wastes of Siberia, but they also nest in considerable numbers in the Carpathians. 

 In France, where there are few forests, they breed but very seldom, and the same 

 is true of England, where the woodcock is essentially a bird of passage. In 

 Denmark, Spain, Italy, and Greece, Switzerland, the Tyrol, and Germany it is also 

 a bird of passage, but may occasionally breed. It is extremely rare in Iceland, 

 but, on the other hand, quite common in Sweden. In the latter part of April or 



in May, seldom earlier, one 

 may find a woodcock's 

 nest in some quiet, solitary, 

 moist woodland spot, among 

 moss or grass, behind old 

 stumps or small bushes, 

 but never in dense under- 

 growth. It is a tiny hollow, 

 lined with moss and dead 

 leaves, and in it lie four or 

 occasionally only three eggs 

 of a buff colour, irregu- 

 larly marked with light 

 red and yellowish brown 

 spots and specks, which are 

 generally morenumerous to- 

 wards the larger end. After 

 eighteen days the young 

 are hatched ; they begin to 

 struggle out of the nest as 

 soon as they are dry, their 

 whereabouts beingbetrayed 

 by the parents which flutter 

 around them, but throw 

 themselves on the ground, 

 as if hurt, when their young 

 are in any way disturbed. After four or five weeks the young can fly, and they 

 then leave the parent-birds entirely. They are taken in search of food by the 

 female, the cock also helping to guide them. The female is sometimes bold enough 

 to carry off her young in her claws out of danger, though observers may be 

 standing only a few yards away. 



If, on being disturbed, a woodcock lie flat on the ground, it is easy to pass by 

 without seeing it, since its plumage is the same colour as the dead leaves and 

 sticks, its presence being only revealed by its large, black, glittering eyes. The 

 eyes are placed high and far back, and this, together with the flattened and 

 peculiar shape of the head, the short thick legs, the large body, and abbreviated 

 tail, gives the bird so strange an appearance that during its irregular flight it has 



WOODCOCK AND YOUNG. 



