" The young ones in their beautiful coats of variegated brown velvety down soon leave the nest." 



THE WOODCOCK 



A 



WHOLE volume might easily 

 be written upon the inter- 

 esting life and habits of 

 this fascinating bird, which 

 breeds all over the British 

 Islands and has its num- 

 bers considerably aug- 

 mented during the autumn 

 by arrivals from the more inclement 

 parts of Europe. 



At one time the Woodcock was 

 believed to be like the fieldfare and 

 the redwing, purely and simply a winter 

 visitor to our shores, and quite recently 

 I experienced considerable difficulty in 

 convincing an intelligent countryman 

 that I had been shown as many as 

 three nests during a morning's walk in 

 Northumberland, and had on more 

 than one occasion in the Highlands 

 seen a dozen " Cocks " on the wing at 

 once during a June evening. No doubt 



the increase of woods and plantations 

 has offered an inducement to the species 

 to stay and breed in our country in 

 greater numbers, and keener observa- 

 tion, coupled with better facilities for 

 communication, have added to our 

 knowledge ; but even these facts do not 

 wholly account for the increase of the 

 species, in a few decades, from a com- 

 paratively rare to a common breeder 

 within the confines of our shores. 



The Woodcock is a bird of nocturnal 

 habits, resting by day under a holly or 

 other thick bush, and emerging just 

 before dark to indulge in a curious 

 twisting, whirling kind of flight, some- 

 what suggestive of the aerial progres- 

 sion of a large bat. Whilst flying, the 

 birds frequently utter two kinds of call 

 notes. 



A good deal of information in regard 

 to the wandering habits of this species 



i ii 



