Limicolce 201 



and particularly the island of Tiree, leave nothing to be 

 desired from the point of view of the shooter. A certain 

 proportion of the birds nest in Britain and seem to 

 be for the most part resident especially in the north ; 

 they lay four large creamy or brownish white eggs 

 with grey and rust-coloured spots in a depression lined 

 with dead leaves, but it is of little use to search for 

 them except in swampy woods, where the ground is 

 covered with dead leaves of such trees as the oak, though 

 heathery and bracken-covered openings also prove 

 attractive. Roughly speaking, the Woodcock ranges 

 from the Arctic Circle over temperate Europe and Asia 

 to the Himalayas and Japan, and to the Atlantic Islands, 

 but many localities are not suitable. The twisting flight 

 of the birds, which lie very closely until flushed, is 

 characteristic ; the food resembles that of the rest 

 of the Family, the insects, worms, and so forth being 

 obtained by probing the soft marshy ground with the 

 extremely long and sensitive bill. At dusk and about 

 sunrise the males constantly fly round a fixed " beat," 

 uttering a curious hoarse note, though they have a 

 sharper cry as well ; both sexes apparently follow 

 this practice when going to feed, and may be relied 

 upon to return to the same point of their beat, as 

 a rule, in less than half an hour. This habit is called 

 " reading." The female also removes her young from 

 place to place, carrying them between her legs. The 

 upper plumage of the Woodcock is ruddy brown and 

 the lower parts pale brown, both being waved or 

 streaked with darker colour. The large eye is very 

 noticeable. 



The zigzag flight of the bird, its alarm-note of 

 " scape-scape " when flushed, and its habit of probing 



