WOODCOCK 269 



Flight. Sportsmen who reside in the districts it frequents 

 are familiar with the aerial movements of this highly prized 

 game-bird. When evicted by dogs or beaters from its 

 sleeping-quarters in the quiet glade, it springs into the air 

 impetuously, and in most cases disappears among the trees 

 with surprising speed, or pitches in some neighbouring 

 herbage outside. But if undisturbed during the day it does 

 not quit the wood until dusk. 



The Woodcock is very conservative in its movements 

 on the wing ; it usually pursues the same route to and from 

 its feeding-grounds during an entire season. I have seen 

 several of these birds pass along the outskirts of a wood 

 towards a swamp, and have noticed, in the fading twilight, 

 their resemblance to owls in their slow, buoyant, flapping 

 flight, though sportive whirling manosuvres are also indulged 

 in at dusk. Marshy, low-lying ground is much resorted to, 

 and there seems to be little doubt that salt-water slob-lands 

 are occasionally visited. In severe frost, as before men- 

 tioned, Woodcocks undoubtedly appear near the sea ; when 

 unable to probe the frozen ground for worms, they tem- 

 porarily become coast-frequenters, and marine shell-fish may 

 be found in their stomachs. In the ' Fowler in Ireland,' Sir 

 E. Payne-Gallwey writes : " at break of day, in a frost, I 

 have shot Cock amongst rocks and seaweed on the beach, 

 especially at high water, when it would seem, they were 

 driven shoreward by the rising tide." 



If the season be mild the Woodcock lurks about the open 

 country wherever sufficient cover is available, and being a 

 strong and sturdy bird, it keeps in good condition even in 

 frost and snow ; it has the good sense to shift its sleeping- 

 quarters according to the severity of the weather, which no 

 doubt tends to keep it sleek and plump. Migration, how- 

 ever, appears at times to exhaust it, for emaciated birds 

 have been captured with the hand about sandhills and 

 drains on the sea-coast. 



Food. The food, consisting mainly of worms and 

 insects, is easily procurable while the weather is mild, and 

 even when the fresh-water marshes and rivulets are frost- 



Ac., that it might easily pass unnoticed, were it not for its great black 

 eyes, which gazed anxiously at the intruder on its preserves. Hiding 

 behind a tree I remained motionless, and presently saw the bird pace 

 slowly about and (as far as the light permitted me to judge) pick among 

 the dead foliage for food. 



