ORDER GRALL.^. 525 



young are disclosed, they quit the nest, being as yet covered 

 only with a soft down, and they even begin to fly, before they 

 have any other feathers than those of the wings. When they 

 are discovered, they endeavour to escape by half fluttering 

 and half running. The parents have been sometimes seen to 

 take under their throats one of the young, apparently the 

 weakest, and thus carry it off* for a considerable distance- 

 The male never quits the female as long as the young have 

 need of their mutual assistance. 



The body of the woodcock, at all times very fleshy, be- 

 comes very fat towards the end of autumn. It then, and for 

 the most part of winter, is a game in high estimation. 

 These birds grow thin in proportion as the spring advances, 

 and such of them as remain in summer, have the flesh hard 

 and dry. 



In woods which are tolerably open and intersected with 

 paths, and along the hedges, the woodcocks shave the ground 

 in a tolerably straight line, and are then easily shot. But 

 in coppices and thick woods, they are obliged to make turns, 

 and then plunge behind the bushes, thus escaping the eye of 

 the fowler. Instead of flying off" when they are approached, 

 they remain covered beneath the tufted foliage, and depart, 

 at last, under the very feet of their pursuer. The dogs 

 which bark at the moment when the woodcock springs, are 

 the most useful in this sport ; but setters are inconvenient. 

 But the modes of taking these birds are too well known, to 

 render it necessary for us to dwell upon them, nor perhaps 

 is such a subject altogether consistent with the department of 

 natural history. 



There are many accidental varieties of the common wood- 

 cock ; such as the white (Sc. Candida of Brisson), whose 

 plumage is sometimes entirely white, and sometimes mixed 

 with waves of grey and marrone ; the red ; the isahella ; the 

 red-headed, whose body is white, and the wings and head 



