A NESTING-PLACE. 
363 
unobserved, you would be pleased to see with what aplomb he plunges 
his bill into every heap of dry leaves, and turns them over to seize the 
larvae, worms, and insects which are lodged therein ; how cunningly he 
uses it to make holes in the moist and yielding soil ; how perseveringly 
he hunts among ordure and refuse for the insects with which it teems. 
He does not remain long at one place, however. Probably it is his 
timidity which hurries him from point to point. 
As for his nesting-place, he seeks an opening in the tranquil forest, 
where the patriarchal trees stand at some distance from each other. 
There, behind a bush, or among the protuberant roots of a venerable 
trunk, he and his mate excavate a slight hollow, which they line with 
mosses, herbage, and withered leaves. This is their home — the cradle 
and nursery of their young. In its construction they take no special 
pains ; partly, perhaps, because they are migratory, and partly because 
they are exposed to the attacks of so many enemies. The kite and 
the hawk pursue them to their retreat ; the falcon pounces upon them 
if they show themselves in the sunny air; the magpie and the jay 
destroy their eggs and devour their young. Among their most 
formidable adversaries, however, is the fox, whose subtle sense of smell 
unerringly tracks them to their hiding-place, and whose gastronomic 
tastes are gratified by the excellent fare they afford. 
THE RUFF AND THE REEVE. 
Woodcocks remind us of the birds so strangely called the ruff and 
reeve ; the former being the male and the latter the female : the former 
girt about with a collar of silken plumes large enough to have adorned 
good Queen Bess; the latter, with her neck bare, altogether more staid 
and homely in appearance than her partner. The fen districts are their 
favourite habitat. 
THE SAND-GROUSE. 
But we are being led astray by thick-coming memories ! Let us 
retrace our steps a little, before we close this chapter. 
The name of the sand-grouse partly indicates the localities, or the 
character of the localities, in which they find a home. The arid sandy 
desert, the low bush-covered hills, and the rocky plains, — these are 
