LITTLE-KNOWN HABITS OF THE WOODCOCK. 439 
parent soon returns to the rest of her brood, and if the danger still threatens 
her, she lifts up and carries away another young bird in the same manner. 
T saw this take place on the 18th May; the young were then larger than, 
or fully as large as, a Snipe.” 
Here it will be observed that the narrator doubts the 
feasibility of any other mode of transport than that which he 
himself witnessed. 
Thompson, in his ‘ Natural History of Ireland’ (Birds, vol. 11. 
p- 258), refers to a keeper who believed that he had seen the old 
hen carrying off her young when suddenly disturbed. Under the 
impression of his having been deceived in the matter, he several 
times followed hens apparently thus burthened to where they 
alighted, and saw them run off without any young bird being 
there. It is, he says, the body behind the wings, the tail, legs, 
and feathers of the belly, that she droops down in a peculiar 
manner, that gives the appearance of a young bird being clutched 
up. He was several times quite near to birds presenting the 
appearance here described. 
St. John’s account of the mode of transport, however, has 
been confirmed by other observers. A correspondent writing 
from Rostrevor, Co. Down, in August, 1871, says :—‘“‘ On the 2nd 
of this month I started a brace of Woodcocks close tome. One 
of them had a young one pressed between its breast and feet; 
it lighted on the ground again after rising, apparently to get a 
better grasp of its young one, and then flew off with it. They 
were near the edge of a wood in the afternoon and during 
sunshine.” Another correspondent, writing from Rohallion, 
Birnam, says:—‘‘ This spring (1871) I have been witness 
repeatedly to the ability of the Woodcock to carry its young, 
and fly off with them, pressed to its body by its legs. This was 
in May and June.” 
Another method of transport is that referred to by Mr. W. 
Colquhoun (Dumbartonshire), who says:—‘‘I have seen a 
Woodcock carry its young, but it was by pressing it between 
its legs.” 
Again, Mr. A. Hamond, jun., of Westacre, informed Mr. 
Stevenson that when in company with a friend and a gamekeeper, 
at Shielda, near Dingwall, in Ross-shire, he saw a Woodcock in 
the act of carrying a young one wm its claws for some distance. 
