LII. 

 SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA. (linn.) 



Woodcock. 



Notices of the Woodcock remaining in this country to 

 breed liave for many years been recorded, but these of 

 rare occurrence ; of late, however, there are numerous in- 

 stances of its nest or young ones having been discovered ; 

 whether or not this may arise from the much greater atten- 

 tion which has recently been given to the study of Natural 

 History, and the increasing interest felt in each department 

 of it, or to the fact of a larger number of the birds becoming 

 stationary in this country, it is difficult to say : I should sup- 

 pose the latter to be the case, judging from analogy. The 

 Missel Thrush, for instance, which, only a few years ago was 

 so rare (at least in the north of England) that Mr. Bewick 

 had considerable difficulty in procuring one from which to 

 draw, is now everywhere abundant. Why the Woodcock 

 leaves these islands at all it is difficult to guess. It goes to 

 a country (Norway) which, during the breeding season, is ex- 

 ceedingly similar to our own in climate ; it has, it is true, its 

 boundless forests, but in these it prefers those places from 

 which the trees have been cut down, and commonly in the 

 outskirts, or bordering upon the rivers. Whilst there I had 

 the pleasure of taking its eggs ; they were upon the bare 

 ground, vuider some brushwood, and in a place from '.vhicli the 

 timber had been cleared, and in which the young spruce firs 

 were again springing. The old bird sits very closely. Whilst 

 wandering through these never-ending pine woods, it vras a 

 very rare occurrence to raise one during the day time, al- 

 though in the evening, towards sunset, and for hours after- 

 wards, numbers of them were constantly passing over the 

 woods, uttering a kind of chiriiing note. I have the egg 



