WOODCOCK MENDING HIS LEG 103 



bill from the edge of the water, and seemed to 

 be smearing it on one leg near the knee. Then 

 he fluttered away on one foot for a short distance, 

 and seemed to be pulling tiny roots and fibres 

 of grass, which he worked into the clay that he 

 had already smeared on the leg. Again he took 

 more clay and plastered it over the fibres, putting 

 on more and more till the enlargement could 

 plainly be seen, thus working away for fully 

 fifteen minutes. Then he stood perfectly still 

 for a full hour under an overhanging sod, his 

 only motion being an occasional rubbing and 

 smoothing of the clay bandage with his bill, 

 until it hardened enough to suit him, and then he 

 disappeared in the thick woods. The woodcock 

 had a broken leg, and had deliberately put it 

 into a clay cast to hold the broken bones in 

 place until they should knit together again. This 

 at all events was our author's full belief, con- 

 firmed by the opinion of many gunners who had 

 frequently shot birds whose legs had at some 

 time been broken and had healed again perfectly 

 straight, and he was fully confirmed a long time 

 afterwards as to the truthfulness of his opinion. 

 A friend shot a woodcock, which on being 

 brought in by the dog, was found to have a lump 

 of hard clay on one of its legs. He chipped the 

 clay off with his pen-knife and found a broken 

 bone, which was then almost healed and as 

 straight as ever. 



