Miscellaneous. 69 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Ornithological Notes. By John Alexander Smith, M.D.* 



1. O/" ^Ae Woodcock {Scolopax rusticola, Linn.), breeding in 

 Perthshire and Morayshire, ^c. — It is scarcely necessary for me to 

 remind the Society that the "Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is one of 

 our regular winter visitors, arriving in Britain from the north gene- 

 rally in the beginning of October, and leaving again on its northern 

 journey in March and April, And although this is beyond all doubt 

 the general rule, still a good many instances have occurred from time 

 to time of their remaining to breed both in England and Scotland ; 

 and these have apparently become more frequent of later years, or 

 perhaps from the increased number of observers they are now more 

 carefully watched than formerly. But although we have notes of the 

 occurrence of their nests at various times in Scotland, still the young 

 birds have been very rarely seen by our Edinburgh naturalists, so 

 that I have thought it of sufficient interest to call your attention to 

 the subject by exhibiting this couple of young ^ooc?coc/5;« which were 

 taken in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld in the end of the month of 

 April last. Judging from their appearance they seem to be about a 

 month, or perhaps six weeks old ; and they closely resemble the old 

 bird in their mottled plumage : the first primary however has the 

 outer web edged with a very light-coloured brownish stripe, while the 

 others have the triangularly shaped brown spots like the adult ; the 

 bill is rather more than If inch in length, and the whole bird about 

 9 inches ; whereas the bill of the adult is nearly 3 inches in length, 

 and the whole bird about 14 inches. These birds I have been in- 

 formed were come upon, when the whole family party were busily 

 engaged catering for food ; and on their being disturbed, the parent 

 birds, strange to say, attempted to fly off with their young in their 

 claws, dropping some of them however in their flight, when the 

 young birds were caught by two men who witnessed the whole pro- 

 ceedings : three young birds \vere caught, but the fourth was believed 

 to have been safely carried off" ; they were kept alive for a short time, 

 but they soon pined away and died. The Woodcock has been ob- 

 served to breed at various times in this district around Dunkeld ; it is 

 however by no means a common occurrence. Mr. Muirhead, Queen 

 Street, tells me, that when in Morayshire last summer, about the 

 18th or 19th of June, one of the Earl of Moray's gamekeepers, at 

 Darnaway Castle, assured him that some of the Woodcocks occa- 

 sionally remained and bred in the neighbourhood, and on Mr. M. 

 (who had never heard anything of the kind before) hinting a doubt 

 on the subject, the keeper ofi'ered to show him one of their nests, and 

 remarked that what was far more extraordinary was the fact, that 

 occasionally on coming near a Woodcock's nest, he had seen the old 

 bird rise from it carrying one of her young brood in her claws. And 

 accordingly on going with him to a piece of dry grassy ground, co- 



* Read before the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, April 7, 1852. 



