COCK SHOOTING. 63 



few days, and then pass southward, consist chiefly of females ; 

 whilst, on the contrary, the subsequent and latest flights 

 which continue with us are principally composed of males. 

 It has been noticed by several authors, that the arrival of 

 the males, in a number of our summer visitants, precedes 

 that of the females by many days; a fact from which we 

 might infer, that in such species a similar separation exists 

 between the sexes during their sequatorial migration." The 

 woodcock is essentially a nocturnal bird, remaining by day 

 under thick bushes or other dense covert on the ground. 

 In the evening it leaves its retreat, and flies silently to its 

 feeding-ground, where worms and insects are carefully sought 

 for in the moist earth by boring with the bill. The nest 

 is built on the ground in dry grassy situations. The female 

 lays three or four eggs, similar in size and shape to those of 

 the plover; in colour, of a pale yellowish white, the larger 

 end blotched with ash grey and reddish yellow brown ; length 

 one inch and three-quarters, breadth one inch four lines. 

 Yarrell's description of the woodcock is as follows : Beak 

 dark brown at the point, pale reddish brown at the base, and 

 generally about three inches long ; the irides dark brown ; 

 eye large, convex, and prominent ; from the beak to the 

 eye a dark-brown streak ; the colour of the plumage is a 

 mixture principally of three shades of brown namely, pale 

 wood brown, chesnut brown, and dark umber brown ; each 

 feather on the upper surface of the body contains the three 

 shades, but so disposed as to produce a beautifully variegated 

 appearance. The cheeks pale wood brown, spotted with 

 dark brown ; the forehead to the top of the head greyish 

 brown, occiput and nape rich dark brown, transversely 

 divided into three nearly equal patches by two bars of 

 yellow wood brown, each feather of the neck below pale 

 brown, edged with dark brown ; the back, greyish brown 

 varied with reddish brown, and dark umber brown ; all the 

 wing coverts reddish brown, with open oval rings of dark 

 brown ; primary quill feathers blackish brown, with trian- 

 gular spots of pale reddish brown along the margins of each 

 web ; secondaries and tertials of the same ground colour, 

 blackish brown, but the light-coloured marks are more elon- 

 gated, and extend from the margin of the web to the shaft 



