126 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



grounds, near stream or pond. So fixed is this habit that from old times 

 the fowlers used to spread nets across these openings in the woods and catch 

 the birds at what Shakespeare, for example, calls " cockshut " time. Another 

 interesting habit is called " roding " or " roading " a flight during the breeding 

 season, which also takes place at the same observed hour at dusk and dawn : 

 the courting birds in play fly swiftly side by side for a few hundred yards out 

 of their exit from the wood, and, often making a triangular course, return. 

 This also is so regular a habit that man has made use of it in setting his nets. 



The bird feeds, like the Snipe, on worms, slugs, insects, small crustaceans 

 and molluscs. Its nest is a depression in the ground, often amongst bracken, in 

 a wood, and lined with dead leaves. The eggs (four) are not so pear-shaped as 

 the Snipe's rather a broad oval yellowish brown (varying from light cream 

 to warm brown) in body colour, with spots and blotches of darker and 

 greyer colour ; laid in March to April. The Woodcock's most familiar note is 

 a curious croak, often said to resemble " More rain to-morrow " " Croho- 

 croho " ; but there is also a screeching cry " Chizzie." 



The mother birds, as the young grow, carry them to and from the feeding 

 grounds in their claws ; and often, if the nest (or young) is approached too 

 closely, will flutter off feigning to be injured. 



IV. BIRDS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A ROOK 19 INCHES AND LARGER. 



Buzzard. This bird used to be far more numerous than at present, but it 

 is still to be found in wild and hilly districts such as the moors of Devon, Wales, 

 the Lakes, and elsewhere. It has a hooked beak and yellow legs, the latter dif- 

 ferentiating it from the ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD, whose legs are feathered, and 

 which is only a winter visitor. The bird is of a general brown colour, and may 

 often be seen above its haunts, soaring high in the air in small parties. It nests 

 in cliffs and high trees most of the birds I have been familiar with in Devon 

 have nested in the latter. The nest is a huge structure of sticks, lined with 

 leaves and grasses. The eggs (two or three) are a dirty white, with blotches of 

 red-brown or blackish brown. 



The food consists of mice, rats, moles, frogs, snakes, beetles, etc. 



Oapercaillie. A splendid bird, the cock nearly a yard in length ; to be found 

 only in Scotland, where it nests in a hollow at the foot of a tree in a pine forest, 

 laying six to eight yellowish eggs with reddish tint, spotted and speckled with 

 brown. It feeds on the buds of trees, on insects and their larvae, berries, grain, 

 and shoots of larch and fir. 



The cock is a grey bird, enriched with touches of glossy green and purplish 

 black beneath ; the hen, much smaller, is altogether a browner bird. 



Cormorant. This bird, known as the BLACK or GREAT CORMORANT, is likely 

 to be confused only with the Shag, but is distinguished by its larger size and 

 the blue-black metallic lustre of its plumage. It is a silent bird, though it can 



