OCCASIONAL NOTES. 307 



"pullos rostro portat" wbile at the same time it confirms what the 

 Rostrevor correspondent observed, that a Woodcock "had a young one 

 pressed between its breast and feet." (See < Zoologist ' for November, 1879, 

 p. 439.) None of these observers, however, corroborate the position of the 

 old bird in the illustration, which shows the bird with outstretched beak 

 grasping her young one in her claws. A little reflection will show that the 

 Woodcock, whose prominent eyes are placed so far back in her head, is 

 more fitted than most birds to direct her flight while her bill is pressed 

 downwards in the peculiar position described by MacEvoy. On the 27th 

 May last the Rev. W. W. Flemyng and 1 found a Woodcock sitting on 

 three eggs, all of which were addled, in the oak woods near Portlaw, where 

 the same evening I saw three other Woodcocks flying out to feed, uttering 

 a sharp little note. Woodcocks breed frequently in these woods, as well as 

 at Coolnainuck, also in the valley of the Suir. — Richard J. Ussher 

 (Cappagh, Co. Waterford). 



Habits of the Woodcock, as observed in Ireland. — Having had 

 ample opportunity for watching the habits of this bird, I give for your 

 readers my experiences on the subject. On the Sleive Bloom range the 

 largest flight comes about the first week in October, and, after stopping 

 until January, or rather end of December, we have very few until March. 

 Should the weather be open, I have frequently found them in numbers in 

 the heather and the wet rushy flats on the mountains. The woods being 

 full of springs, afford them, should frost set in, good feeding for some time, 

 but, should the frost last for a long time, they leave for the banks of the 

 Banno river and the large wet ditches, which are very numerous in the lower 

 part of this county. Many remain and breed here, and there is hardly an 

 evening that four or five do not fly, calling, over the bouse. T have seen 

 them moving their young frequently, but never by the feet alone. The first 

 time I was witness to this fact was in June, 1876. Whilst walking very 

 early in the morning I saw a bird fly rapidly across me, holding something 

 in a peculiar manner. I waited for some time, when I saw the bird fly back 

 in the direction she had come, and, as I at once perceived her to be a Wood- 

 cock. I went to the spot whence she rose : on the ground lay two little fluffy 

 birds, the largest part of them being their head and eyes. Anxious to see 

 would she return, I lay down close under a holly bush ; in a short time she 

 came back supporting a little one, not only with her feet, but with her bill 

 pressed over the bird against her breast. Tins mode of carriage I have 

 frequently seen, certainly since then five times, but I have never seen the 

 bird carry her young as in the illustration (Zool., ] 879). She may do so ; I 

 only state what I have myself observed. One of the prettiest sights I ever 

 saw was an old Woodcock teaching her four young ones to fly. It was 

 some time iu July, 1878. They made flights just like a clever skater 



