(5 WOODCOCK. 



1796. The Kev. Gilbert White too, mentions that a gentleman 

 at Scilly shot twenty-nine couple in one clay. 



A Woodcock has been seen, at Newnham, in Gloucestershire, 

 to perch on an oak tree. As the name implies, they frequent 

 woods, but seem to prefer those in which the trees are of 

 young growth, and especially, it is said, such as have a north- 

 east aspect, on account of their being less exposed to the 

 glare of day. 



The flight of the Woodcock has been estimated to be at 

 the rate of one hundred and fifty miles an hour. Several 

 instances have occurred of their dashing themselves to death, 

 from its force against the glass of lighthouses. Five were 

 thus killed in Anglesea; one in Ireland, where it broke a pane 

 of plate glass three eighths of an inch in thickness, and its 

 own breast-bone and wings as well; others at the Eddystone 

 Lighthouse, so well known in story for its destruction by the 

 tremendous storm of 1703. In general, however, the flight 

 of the Woodcock is not o rapid as might be hence supposed, 

 but like others of its class it turns and twists in a curious 

 manner. A peculiar rustling of the wings is made in flying, 

 the bill then is held downwards: so it is when the bird is 

 standing at rest. If disturbed it does not fly at any height 

 nor far, but soon seeks the shelter of some bush or other 

 covert, or returns round again to the wood it had left. When 

 rising of its own accord, it mounts high at once, and, travelling 

 always at night, proceeds the more quickly. It walks in a 

 heavy and somewhat awkward manner, and flirts up its tail 

 at times, shewing the white tips of the feathers distinctly. 



'In the autumn and spring of the year, when Woodcocks 

 migrate, they frequently rove about for a quarter of an hour 

 at night and morning, pursuing one another on the wing, 

 snapping at each other, and tumbling about, either at dusk, 

 just before dark, or in the morning until daylight.' 



The Rev. William Bree describes the note to me, having 

 heard it on more than one occasion, in the spring of 1854, 

 in the New Forest in Hampshire, as a kind of snort; another 

 naturalist describes it as a rumbling sound. The young, if 

 alarmed, emit a very shrill stridulous note: Meyer likens it 

 to 'tseep,' and 'dack,' the latter expressive of alarm and fear. 



The Woodcock feeds on insects and worms, which latter it 

 seems to detect by scenting, and secures unerringly by boring 

 with the bill, and also by turning any loose mould or leaves 

 from side to side. 



