WOODCOCK. 
297 
feet or legs, and that, if the beak is used, it is only for the 
purpose of steadying and supporting the burden. 
In writing to Marsham, on March 20th, 1792, White 
relates that Lord Stawell had called on him a few days 
previously, and brought him a white woodcock, " milk 
white all over, except a few spots." 
Warner,! writing in 1795 — only two years after White's 
death — says of the Isle of Wight, that the woodcock is 
found " during the usual season of his visits to this part of 
Europe. Two or three stragglers generally arrive before 
the appearance of the great flock, which always manages 
to reach the land after sunset ; a well-informed friend, 
who is also a sportsman, informed me that one or two had 
been seen this year as early as the middle of September, 
but instances of this premature advent are by no means 
common. They continue here till the latter end of March 
after which time it seldom happens that they are met with. 
One or two pair, indeed, have been known to remain and 
breed, as has been the case, though rarely, in some other 
parts of the kingdom." 
After an interval of a very few years. Colonel Hawker, 
in his " Diary," takes up the history of our Hampshire 
woodcocks, and betrays more agitation concerning them 
than would be shown in these days. On January 25th, 
1 8 10, for instance, after mentioning that he had shot one 
from his windows at Longparish, he remarks that they 
were so scarce in that neighbourhood that he had but 
rarely killed three in a whole season. 
On November 15th, 1822, he notes: — " A great bustle 
through the house in consequence of a man having run 
in with information of a woodcock. I marched against 
, ^ " History of the Isle of Wight." 
