BRITISH BIRDS. 121 



and little oo/ing mossy rills which are rarely 

 frozen, and seek the shelter of close bushes of 

 holly, furze, and brakes in the woody glens, or 

 hollow dells which are covered with underwood : 

 there they remain concealed during the day, and 

 remove to different haunts and feed only in the 

 night. From the beginning of March to the end, 

 or sometimes to the middle of April, they draw 

 towards the coasts, and avail themselves of the 

 first fair wind to return to their native woods : 

 should it happen to continue long to blow ad- 

 versely, they are thereby detained ; and, as their 

 numbers increase, they are more easily found and 

 destroyed by the merciless sportsman. 



The female makes her nest on the ground, 

 generally at the root or stump of a decayed tree; 

 it is carelessly formed of dried fibres and leaves, 

 upon which she lays four eggs, of a rusty grey, 

 blotched and marked with dusky spots. The 

 young leave the nest as soon as they are freed 

 from the shell, but the parents continue to attend 

 and assist them until they can provide for them- 

 selves. Buffon says, they sometimes take a weak 

 one under their throat, and convey it more than 

 a thousand paces.* 



* Latham mentions three varieties of British Woodcocks: in the 

 first, the head is of a pale red, body white, and the wings brown; the 

 second is of a dun, or rather cream colour; and the third of a pure 

 white. Dr. Heysham, in his Catalogue of Cumberland Animals, 

 mentions his having met with one, the general colour of which was a 

 fine pale ash, with frequent bars of a very delicate rufous : tail brown, 

 tipped with white; and the bill and legs flesh colour. In addition to 

 these, some other varieties are taken notice of by the late Marmaduke 

 Tunstall, Esq., of Wycliffe, in his interleaved books of Ornithology. 



VOL. II. Q 



