374 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



the summer, and I think the only reason for their not having 

 been known previous to the early part of this century, was that 

 Poachers kept them down most effectively.' Mr. Ainslie stated, 

 in the Field of April 27, 1889, that his keeper saw more birds 

 at Grizedale in the summer than in the shooting-season. His 

 own bag of ' Cock ' in the season of 1888 was twenty-nine birds. 

 But the supply of Woodcock in winter of course varies with 

 locality and weather, as every one finds. Mr. Archibald's keeper 

 once killed eighteen Woodcock in the Eusland valley in one 

 day, and lost another. This unusual circumstance was fully 

 explained by the fact that the birds had been driven into the 

 springs on the low ground by frost and snow. Woodcock 

 nest near Windermere, Keswick, Appleby, Kendal, Penrith — in 

 fact, in large woods all round our chief centres ; they are also 

 scattered up and down the west of our faunal area in the 

 breeding season. Edenhall, jSTetherby, Appleby Castle, Naworth, 

 are among the chief strongholds of the species ; its numbers are 

 of course thin where timber is scarce or where birds are nob 

 encouraged, while the wildest parts of the Lake district are 

 unsuitable to the tastes of a bird that loves damp plantations 

 and open drains or mossy ground, in which a plentiful supply 

 of worms can be obtained. I have often watched the flight of 

 the croaking Woodcock crossing the glades of some of our big 

 woods in the gloaming, and occasionally flushed the birds by 

 day in the depths of the coverts that they frequent. The nests 

 and young are chiefly found when keepers are collecting 

 Pheasant eggs. Both the eggs and young require a keen eye 

 to distinguish them from the dead leaves in which they repose. 

 Mr. W. Duckworth examined five nests of the Woodcock at 

 Netherby on April 23, 1886; two were in the shelter of the 

 Crossleaved Heath, one near Heather, one under some rhododen- 

 drons, and another beneath some brambles. I have seen others 

 in fir plantations, and others also in woods of deciduous timber. 

 One of the nests which Mr. Duckworth found contained a dwarf 

 egg. The Woodcock is an early breeder, and the eggs are 

 often laid in March. I had some thoughts of seeking to take 

 a census of the Woodcock nesting in the Lake district, but my 

 most experienced friends dissuaded me, on the ground that no 



