COMMON WOODCOCK. 
47 
nests on the ground ; they are composed of a few- 
dried fibres and leaves, and are generally placed at 
the root of some tree : they lay four or five eggs^, 
about the size of those of a pigeon, of a rusty colour, 
and marked with brown spots. The young run as 
soon as hatched, but cannot immediately provide for 
themselves. They are remarkably tame during incu- 
bation : a person who discovered a Woodcock on its 
nest, often stood over, and even stroked it ; notwith- 
standing which, it hatched the young ones, and, in 
due time, disappeared with them. 
A single bird was observed to remain in a coppice, 
belonging to a gentleman in Dorsetshire, through 
the summer. The place, from its shady and moist 
situation, was well calculated to maintain it ; yet 
by degrees it lost almost all its feathers, so that 
for some time it was not able to fly, and was often 
caught ; but in the summer it recovered its feathers 
and strength, and flew away. The inhabitants of 
the north of Europe, to whose forests the Woodcocks 
retire in the summer, never eat them ; esteeming 
their flesh unwholesome, from the circumstance of 
their having no crops. 
In Lancashire, great numbers of these birds are 
taken by means of traps in moonlight nights : long 
parallel rows of stones or sticks, about four or five 
inches high, are made on the commons which they 
frequent. In these rows several intervals or gate- 
ways are left, in which the traps are placed. When 
the bird, running about in search of food, comes to 
one of these rows, he will not cross it, but runs along 
