404 NOTES TO THE 
"W. H." writes in Land and Water: — "The song of tlie ring- 
ouzel is both mellow and clear. During the spring and summer 
months their food consists almost entirely of insects." 
Feeding Young on the Wing, p. 110. — The sand and house 
mxrtin feed their young on the wing ; the mother makes a cluck- 
ing call, they meet in the air, and away they go again. The 
transfer is done in a moment; they merely catch the insect and 
deliver it to the yonng. 
The late broods of martins stay in the nest till they are per- 
fect on tlie ^ving, and then take flight and migrate with the old. 
Woodcocks, p. 110. — A great game preserver writes me: — 
" Woodcocks' nests in this country have been carefully watched, 
and the eggs when protected have generally hatched out ; but 
the young, we may venture to say, have never been seen in or 
upon the nest, if the dead leaves or spot chosen by the wood- 
cock to deposit her eggs upon can be called a nest. Without 
doubt the woodcock removes her young to a neighbourhood 
where food is plentiful, but makes her nest on bare and dry 
ground, and where one would least expect to find it." 
Various theories exist in different localities as to which wand 
brings woodcocks, and whether any particular quarter of the 
moon favours their flight ; certain it is that they make their 
appearance every year nearly to a day, and that frost has more 
than anything else to do with their remaining or taking their 
dep>arture. 
A long correspondence took place some time since, on 
the subject of the woodcock carrying its youug with its 
beak or claws. This matter is not settled yet. Professor 
Quekett discovered in the stomach of a woodcock some very 
curious-looking hairs : having examined them with a micro- 
scope, he pronounced them to be the liairs of the earthworm. 
These hairs can be found in the living earthworm in the 
hollows between the rings which form the head. 
I hear from my friend Col. Maxse, Governor of Heligoland, 
that it is customary in that island to hang up nets across the 
streets at night. The woodcocks migrating from the Conti- 
nent run their heads into the meshes of the net and thus get 
caught. 
WatePv-Ousel, p. 112. — " The dipper, or water-ouzel {Cinchis 
acfiuUicus),'' Mr. Napier writes, "breeds in Yorkshire, Derby- 
shire, Devonshire, many parts of Wales and Scotland, and often 
commences its nest early in ApriL The nest resembles that 
