320 THE WOODCOCK. 
woods and plantations which it frequents. It is an early 
breeder, frequently having young ones in the middle of April. 
The eggs do not vary much, except in contour. They have 
none of the pear-shaped character which distinguishes those 
of all the allied species; on the contrary, they are sometimes 
more remarkable for the roundness of their form. They are 
four in number. 
Yarrell again remarks :—“ They (the nests) were all in dry 
warm situations, amongst dead grass and leaves, without any 
attempt at concealment. The nest sent was wholly composed 
of dead leaves, chiefly of the common fern, loosely laid 
together, and without any lining. 
“Tt would, however, be more proper to say deds than nests ; 
for, like those of the Plover, they are merely slight hollows 
formed by the nestling of the birds in dry soft spots, or on 
the fallen leaves.” 
Mr. C. St. John obtained a nest of the Woodcock in Scot- 
land as early as the 9th of March, and he says that there they 
breed again in July and August. Anderson got his nest, eggs 
hard set, on the 2nd of July, and was of opinion that this 
was a first laying and that the hen would soon have laid again. 
“The ovarium of my specimen contained three impregnated 
eggs, the largest being about the size of an ordinary pill, so 
that the present brood would hardly have been able to shift 
for themselves before the mother would be incubating again ; 
it is evident, therefore, that in India,as in Europe, the Wood- 
cock has a double brood.” 
But such eggs are often found in birds that do not laya 
second time normally, a mere natural reserve to provide against 
the contingencies of the destruction of the first clutch, and 
which, if the first brood be reared, are never matured, but 
passed in an incipient form. And I am by no means certain that 
Woodcock azy where, normally, have and rear a double brood, 
and I very much doubt their doing this in the Himalayas. 
The eggs are always fourin number. They are typically 
very broad ovals, but generally slightly compressed near the small 
end; the ground colour varies from pale yellowish white, 
through various shades of buff and buffy stone colour, to a red- 
dish café au lat. The markings, never very densely set, and at 
times very sparse, consist of different shades of brown, brown- 
ish yellow and brownish red on the one hand, and greys, from 
sepia to purple on the other. The former occur in moderate-sized 
blotches, spots and specks, as primary markings. Often these 
are more numerous in a cap or zone about the large end. 
Occasionally not a single blotch or spot is one-tenth of an 
inch in diameter, and nine out of ten are little more than 
specks ; but in other eggs many of the blotches, especially about 
the large end, are a quarter of an inch and upwards in length. 
The greys, pinkish, lavender, sepia occur as small clouds, spots 
