THE WOODCOCK. 145 



northern ocean, and therefore they wait for the ad- 

 vantage of a favourable wind. When they have had 

 bad weather to encounter on their passage, they are 

 frequently so much exhausted on their arrival as to 

 suffer themselves to be seized by the hand. In very 

 stormy weather, we are told, they occasionally take 

 refuge in the rigging of vessels at sea, and that num- 

 bers are frequently lost in their passage. 



They feed on worms and insects, whicli they search 

 for, with their long bills, in soft ground and moist 

 woods, feeding and flying principally in the night. 

 They go out in the evening, and generally return in 

 the same direction, or through the same glades, to 

 their day-retreat. 



The greater part of them leave this country abput 

 the latter end of February or the beginning of March, 

 always pairing before they set out ; and at this time, 

 may be sometimes heard to utter a little piping noise. 

 They retire to the coast, and, if the wind be favour- 

 able, set out immediately; but if contrary, they are 

 often detained for some time, and thus afford good 

 diversion to those sportsmen who reside near the sea. 

 The instant, however, a fair wind springs up, they 

 embrace the opportunity; and where the sportsman 

 has seen hundreds in one day, he will not find even 

 a single bird the next. 



Very few of them remain in England during the 

 summer; though instances of this kind occasionally 

 happen, and the female has been known to make a 

 nest and lay eggs. But even these instances have 



H 



