SMELL. 79 



which was dug up to enable it to bore ; and worms 

 put into a large garden-pot, covered with earth five or 

 six inches deep, are always cleared by the next morn- 

 ing, without one being left. The enormous quantity 

 of worms that these birds eat is scarcely credible ; 

 indeed it would be the constant labour of one person 

 to procure such food for two or three woodcocks *." 



The same opinion respecting the acute smell of 

 the woodcock was held by the older authors, among 

 whom we may name Nemesian, Gesner, and Aldro- 

 vand'f. M. Montbeillard also says it seems to dis- 

 cover its food by smell rather than by sight J, which 

 is supposed to be corroborated by what is related by 

 Bowles of certain tame woodcocks at San Ildefonso in 

 Spain, belonging to the Infant, Don Louis. " Here," 

 says Bowles, " there was a fountain which flowed 

 perpetually to keep the ground moist, and in the 

 middle a pine-tree and shrubs for the same pur- 

 pose. Fresh sod was brought to them, the richest in 

 worms that could be found ; in vain did the worms 

 seek concealment when the woodcock was hungry ; 

 it discovered them by the smell, stuck its bill into the 

 ground, but never higher than the nostrils; drew 

 them out singly, and raising its bill into the air, it 

 extended upon it the entire length of the worm, and 

 in this way swallowed it smoothly, without any action 

 of the jaws. This whole operation was performed in 

 an instant, and the motion of the woodcock was so 

 equal and imperceptible that it seemed doing nothing. 

 I did not once see it miss its aim : for this reason, 

 and because it never plunged its bill up to the orifice 

 of the nostrils, I concluded that smell is what directs 

 it in search of its food." 



* Ornith. Diet. p. 562, 2d edit, 

 f Aldrovandi Ornithologia, iii. 126. 



J Oiseaux, Art. La Becasse. 

 Bowles's Nat, Hist, of Spain, p. 484. 



