THE WOODCOCK. 211 



the whole breeding season without being once in the air or 

 once seen. The nest*s are understood to be in the closest 

 underwood, on or near the ground, so matted up with the 

 surrounding vegetation as not to be easily seen, though con- 

 taining but few artificial materials. The eggs are dull yel- 

 lowish white, blotched with reddish brown, and understood to 

 be four in number, like the rest of the snipes and the ana- 

 logous genera. 



But though some woodcocks have been known to breed both 

 in Scotland and in the north of England, and though many 

 more, in all probability, do breed in the island, we certainly 

 receive large autumnal supplies by migration, and that 

 directly from the swampy portions of the Scandinavian 

 forests, as the birds come in the greatest numbers with 

 north-east winds, not driven by the fury of tempests, as 

 the tree-birds of that part of the world often appear to be, 

 but when the wind is moderate, and before the weather 

 begins to be very severe. Starved-out the birds are not, 

 for they usually land in high condition, very little fatigued, 

 and can hardly be said to improve upon their southern 

 pastures. 



The snipe family in general, and woodcocks in particular, 

 seem to be among the most meteorological of birds. That 

 sudden, and, to our observation, capricious shifting of their 

 ground, to which allusion was made in noticing the common 

 snipe, shows a feeling of the changes of the weather which, 

 to our comprehension, is absolutely prophetic ; and though 

 that must, no doubt, in part, be attributed to the delicate 

 sensibility of those creatures on which the birds feed, it must 

 also be in part owing to the sensibility of the birds them- 

 selves, inasmuch as they are not starved or even exhausted 

 after their longest migrations. 



And when we consider how very sensitive an organ the 

 bill of these birds is, that it answers many of the purposes of 



