THE WOODCOCK. 
199 
THE WOODCOCK. 
Scolopax Tusticola. 
From all trustworthy accounts it appears that the Woodcock 
is common enough in Orkney, hut has not been known to breed 
in the islands. Until lately it was very rare in Shetland ; — pace 
some of my friends there, who, not knowing it from the larger 
waders, have declared that they used to shoot it on the shore 
every autumn, and that it always rose uttering a loud, ringing 
cry ; not a bad instance of spoiling a cause by proving a little 
too much. It often happens that when a partially neglected 
locality is, at length well watched, the error is frequently 
committed of believing certain species to be more abundant 
then formerly; but this I have always carefully guarded 
against. The best evidence of all, in the case of the Woodcock, 
is that people walking over the hills now occasionally mention 
with astonishment “ a muckle snippack, the like o’ which ” 
they never heard of before. Without giving his authority, 
Macgillivray states that “in Shetland, although they arrive 
sometimes as early as anywhere else, they seldom remain long ;” 
but it is not improbable that his informant was confounding 
the bird with the “ Sea- Woodcock,” or Godwit ; — indeed, I 
myself have heard a Shetland gentleman apply the term 
“Woodcock” to one of the Godwits, entirely omitting the prefix. 
From having of late often found the Woodcock crouching 
among the leaves in the garden at Halligarth, in the month of 
October, it occurs to me that stray birds, which in former times, 
would have continued their flight, now rest there and in other 
gardens through the country, and afterwards discovering suit- 
able food in the neighbourhood are in no great haste to leave. 
This method of reasoning, however, would scarcely account for 
the increasing numbers which now breed annually in Britain.. 
It is strange that in Unst, at least, where I have had the best 
opportunities of observing it, it is oftener met with upon the 
tops of hills than elsewhere ; but, as it selects those which 
