480 AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



the parts at the base of the mandibles, I concluded that the bird has the 

 power of working their extremities so as to produce a kind of vacuum, 

 which enables it to seize the worm at one end, and suck it into its throat 

 before it withdraws its bill, as do Curlews and God wits. The quickness 

 of their sight on such occasions was put to the test by uncovering a cat 

 placed in the corner of the room, at the same height above the floor as 

 the surface of the mud which filled the tub, when instantly the Woodcock 

 would draw out its bill, jerk up its tail, spread it out, leap upon the floor, 

 and run off to the opposite corner. At other times, when the cat was 

 placed beneath the level of the bird, by the whole height of the tub, which 

 was rather more than a foot, the same result took place ; and I concluded 

 that the elevated position of this bird's eye was probably intended to 

 enable it to see its enemies at a considerable distance, and watch their 

 approach, while it is in the act of probing, and not to protect that organ 

 from the mire, as the Woodcock is always extremely clean, and never 

 shews any earth adhering to the feathers about its mouth. 



How comfortable it is when fatigued and covered with mud, your 

 clothes drenched with wet, and your stomach aching for food, you arrive 

 at home with a bag of Woodcocks, and meet the kind smiles of those you 

 love best, and which are a thousand times more delightful to your eye, 

 than the savoury flesh of the most delicate of birds can be to your palate. 

 When you have shifted your clothes, and know that on the little round 

 table already spread, you will ere long see a dish of game, which will 

 both remove your hunger and augment the pleasure of your family ; when 

 you are seated in the midst of the little group, and now see some one 

 neatly arrayed introduce the mess, so white, so tender, and so beautifully 

 sun-ounded by savoury juice; when a jug of sparkling Newark cider 

 stands nigh ; and you, without knife or fork, quarter a Woodcock, ah 

 Reader ! — But alas ! I am not in the Jerseys just now, in the company of 

 my o-enerous friend Edward Harris ; nor am I under the hospitable . 

 roof of my equally esteemed friend John Bachmax. No, Reader, I am 

 in Edinburgh, wielding my iron pen, without any expectation of Wood- 

 cocks for my dinner, either to-day or to-morrow, or indeed for some 

 months to come. 



