340 WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 



ceeded in killing a Jack-Snipe, deeply lamented the loss of a 

 bird which, as he was always sure of finding it in the same 

 place, had afforded him constant amusement during a whole 

 Winter. Of this attachment to a particular spot and regular 

 return to it, there can be no doubt ; we have already alluded 

 to it in the case of other birds, and Woodcocks and Snipes 

 seem to form no exceptions to the practice. One instance 

 amongst many will be sufficient to prove the fact. A Wood- 

 cock was accidentally found by a keeper, entangled in a 

 rabbit-net and preserved alive ; a brass ting was put on its 

 left leg, and it was turned loose. This occurred in February. 

 On finding itself at liberty, it rose to a very great height in 

 the air, and directed its flight towards the sea, from whence 

 it was distant about twenty miles. In December, this same 

 bird was shot in the same wood where it had been captured 

 in the preceding February. 



That Woodcocks, however, can and do breed in this 

 country is beyond a doubt; instances without end have 

 occurred ; one of which alone we shall notice, on account of 

 a very curious circumstance connected with it. 



The communication first appeared in a Scotch newspaper, 

 the Elgin Courier. In the month of April, near Dornaway 

 Castle, the seat of the Earl of Moray, a Woodcock was 

 flushed, which flew as if wounded. On a person who was 

 present remarking this to the gamekeeper, the latter observed 

 that the bird was not wounded, but was carrying off a young 

 one in her talons, and that no doubt the nest was close at 

 hand : this was found to be the case, and two other young 

 ones were discovered in it, which, on being disturbed, ran off, 

 uttering a piping note. The keeper spoke very positively of 

 its being customary with the old birds to fly off every morn- 

 ing and evening with the young ones to the nearest springs, 

 and when they were fed, they were conveyed back to the 

 nest in a similar manner. 



In the first edition of this work we expressed a doubt as 

 to the correctness of the keeper's account, admitting only the 

 possibility that it might be true, from a knowledge that some 

 other birds were in the habit of transporting either their 



