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ABOUT THE WOODCOCK. 
on an adult turkey, but fares sumptuously on the eggs and the 
nestlings. 
THE WOODCOCK. 
To the Snipe family, or Scolopacidse, belongs the woodcock, a bird 
dear to the sportsman, and highly esteemed by the gourmand. His 
range is extensive : he is found all over Europe, except its far northern 
isles, as well as in the north and centre of the African continent. A 
migratory bird, he travels yearly from Europe across the Mediterranean 
to North-west Africa; or from Northern Asia he passes into India, 
descending as far south as Calcutta, and even Madras. The general 
character of his plumage is sober : the back red or reddish, or rather 
rusty red, with spots of yellowish, brownish, and blackish gray ; eight 
transversal bars — four brown, four yellowish-red — extending from the 
neck to the top of the head ; the throat almost white ; breast and belly 
shaded with yellowish-gray and brown; the wings black and brown, 
with spots of black ; and the bright eye, a hazel-brown. If ever the 
reader have " flushed " a woodcock, he will know that this description 
is tolerably accurate. 
Wooded districts, as his name implies, are the favourite resort of 
this bird. Not that he has a preference for any particular tree, or 
species of tree ; he is found quite as often in woods of fir and pine as 
in groves of beech, oak, or elm. But he desiderates a damp soil, into 
which he can thrust his bill. It is said that he luxuriates in the wide 
forests of the Northern lands, which are composed of pines, close-set as 
soldiers in battle-array ; but avoids those open and scattered patches 
of conifers which struggle in a sandy soil. 
It is not ea.sy, on account of his timidity and suspiciousness, to 
observe his daily mode of life. He does not willingly appear by 
day ; and when forced from his seclusion crouches against the gi'ound, 
with the colour of which that of his plumage blends very naturally. 
When a calm prevails in the shady depths, and 
" All the forest-leaves seem stirred ■with prayer," 
he ventures forth to trip along the turf; but still keeps to the more 
secluded glades, where he is sheltered from the eye of man and the 
