118 WOODCOCKS. 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus concerning 

 the woodcock ; it is expected of him that he should be able 

 to account for the motions and manner of life of the animals 

 of his own Fauna. * 



Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare 

 descriptions, and a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; 

 because all that may be done at home in a man's study ; but 

 the investigation of the life and conversation of animals, is a 

 concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be 

 attained but by the active and inquisitive, and by those that 

 reside much in the country. 



Foreign systematists are, I observe, much too vague in their 

 specific differences ; which are almost universally constituted 

 by one or two particular marks, the rest of the description 

 running in general terms. But our countryman, the excellent 

 Mr Ray, is the only describer that conveys some precise idea 

 in every term or word, maintaining his superiority over his 



* The woodcock is found in all parts of the old Continent, from north 

 to south. In some places, it is said to remain the whole year, only 

 changing its haunts, in the breeding season, from the plains to the 

 mountainous districts. The habits of all the woodcocks hitherto dis- 

 covered only two or three in number are alike : they are observed to 

 make partial migrations from north to south during the breeding season. 

 The woodcock is among the few winter birds that occasionally breed 

 in Britain. Besides what we have mentioned at page 106, young birds 

 have been killed in August, and eggs found in June. In the year 1795, 

 the Rev. Mr Wheatear, of Hastings, found a nest, with four eggs, in a 

 wood near Battle, in Sussex. In 1802, Mr Foljamb possessed a specimen 

 of a half fledged bird, taken in Broodsworth Wood, near Doncaster ; and, 

 in 1805, a brood of four were hatched in a wood at Shucoaks, near 

 Worksop. The nest from which these last were taken, consisted of moss, 

 bent, and dry leaves. On the 19th May, 1828, James Smith, keeper to 

 John Chetwood, Esq. of Ansley, near Naneaton, shot two young wood- 

 cocks in a wood called Hore Park, in that neighbourhood ; and, on the 

 following day, an old bird was shot by Smith, at the same spot. The 

 young ones are said to have been dry and bad when brought to table, 

 but the old bird was excellent. John Wigson, woodman to W. Dilke, 

 Esq. discovered a woodcock sitting on four eggs, in Regton Wood, near 

 Coventry, in the beginning of May, 1829. From some cause, however, 

 the nest was deserted, and several of the eggs destroyed. On breaking one 

 that remained, it was found to be nearly ready to hatch ; a fact proving 

 that the adults must have commenced the business of nidification about 

 the beginning of April, which is earlier than many individuals of this 

 species leave Britain for northern climates ; thus affording pretty strong 

 evidence in favour of woodcocks pairing previous to their departure. On 

 the 8th August, 1828, a woodcock was shot in Florida demesne, county 

 of Down, Ireland, which must have remained through the summer. ED. 



