WOODCOCK. 5 



The Woodcock has commenced of late years to breed in most 

 of the large woods in Sutherlandshire. On their first arrival 

 they resort to smaller plantations and copses, and even to 

 open fields, as of turnips, and afterwards to more extensive 

 covers. 



The Woodcock is a nocturnal or crepuscular bird, hiding 

 during the day under some evergreen or other thick bush, and 

 towards night sallying out by some accustomed track to its 

 feeding-ground. It is of shy and retired habits, and rarely 

 takes wing by day unless disturbed. In milder weather it 

 retires to higher grounds on moors and mountains, but on the 

 approach of frost seeks the shelter of the lowlands. A pair 

 of these birds have been known to fly at and attack a woman 

 who approached a spring where she had found their nest 

 containing five young ones. They return to their accustomed 

 haunts, it would seem, year after year. Bishop Stanley mentions 

 a Woodcock, which being accidentally captured in a net, was 

 let loose after a brass ring had been fastened round its leg; 

 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 which it was distant about twenty miles. In 

 December, this same bird was shot in the same wood where it 

 had been taken. 



The Woodcock has been observed, in more instances than 

 one, to remove its young by holding them in its feet; 'and 

 this not only on being disturbed, but at other times ordinarily, 

 to convey them to the nearest springs to feed. Woodcocks 

 are in poor condition on their first arrival here, but soon 

 become fat, and as need hardly be observed, are most excellent 

 eating. In 'The Naturalist,' volume iii, page 19, there is a 

 singular anecdote related of one of these birds being found on 

 the 9th. of October, 1852, perched on the back of a stove 

 in an iron warehouse, at Lynn, in Norfolk. In the year 1853, 

 Woodcocks were unusually abundant in different parts of the 

 country. In one wood near Thornaye, Norfolk, one hundred 

 and fifty-three were shot in three days ninety, thirty, and 

 thirty-three. 



In Ireland, where they have been the most abundant, the 

 Earl of Cl arena out formerly shot fifty couple in one day. 

 The author of 'Wild Sports of the West,' mentions that from 

 a copse of not more than thirty acres, he has seen fifty couple 

 flushed; and in Daniels' 'Rural Sports,' it is recorded that 

 Mr. Yea, of Swansea, killed a hundred couple in the season of 



