SCOLOPAX EUSTICULA. 813 



to perceive that the toes of a Wader are not adapted for holding any thing as bulky as a young bird. 

 Mr. Hancock publishes some interesting notes on the subject in his ' Catalogue/ and demonstrates, for the 

 first time I believe, the real mode in which the nestling is carried. He writes: — "In 18491 accompanied 

 Mr. St. John to Sutherlandshire, on an ornithological tour, and had the good fortune to observe the 

 Woodcock perform this feat. As we were rambling in the neighbourhood of Dunrobin, where it nests 

 regularly, we raised the bird, and at once saw the young suspended beneath the body of the parent. It 

 was close to us when it rose, so that we had an excellent view of both the young and the old bird. ' Now/ 

 said Mr. St. John, ' are you not convinced ? ' ' Yes/ I replied, ' that the young is carried, but not in the 

 claws, which I have said, and still believe, are too feeble for the purpose.' I picked up one of the brood ; 

 it was about the size of a Snipe ; when I grasped it, it made a peculiar squeaking noise. In the course 

 of half an hour we returned to the spot and again witnessed the old bird carry off another of its chicks, 

 and now became quite satisfied of the modus operandi ; the young bird was pressed close up to the breast 

 of the parent, as indeed was obvious in the first instance. Hence the inference of us both that the young was 

 held between the legs and not in the claws." It is possible that when surprised the parent bird may seize its 

 voung with the toes ; but that it does not succeed in carrying it far by this means, has been proved by an extract 

 from the ' Lays of the Deer Forest/ published, with other information on this subject, by Mr. Harting. In this 

 we are told that a Woodcock rose with a young bird in her feet dangling and swinging like a parachute, but 

 that she alighted at no great distance, and getting up again dropped the bird ; we are then informed that she 

 rose again "with him in her claws;" but the inference to be drawn from her previous failures is that, in the 

 last instance, the observations of the author were not accurate, and that at the third trial the young bird was 

 carried between the legs. 



Genus G-ALLINAGO. 

 Bill as in Scolopax, but with numerous pittules near the tip. Wings with the secondaries 

 usually shorter. Tail short and variable, of from 12 to 28 feathers; the lateral ones in some 

 very narrow and stiff. Legs proportionately longer than in Scolopax. Tarsus bare above the 

 knee ; the hind toe longer and with a well-developed nail. 



5 m 2 



