THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
mollusca among the dead leaves. At such times it also consumes a certain 
amount of vegetable matter to allay the pangs of hunger. 
Normally, the woodcock is nocturnal in its habits, leaving the shelter 
of the woods for its feeding -grounds shortly before dusk and returning 
at dawn to rest in some sheltered spot, but when food is scarce, and 
it has been unable to satisfy its abnormally large appetite, it also feeds 
to some extent during the day in the neighbourhood of its resting- 
place. In such times of stress it rapidly loses weight and becomes a 
mere skeleton. 
Weight . — The average weight of a good plump woodcock is about twelve 
ounces; smaller birds weigh about eleven ounces, and very large ones as 
much as sixteen ounces, though the latter are exceptional. Occasion- 
ally one hears of even heavier birds being killed, and Yarrell records a 
giant woodcock, killed in 1801, which was said to have weighed no less 
than twenty-seven ounces ! It seems certain, however, that a mistake 
must have been made; it is probable that “ seventeen ounces ” should be 
substituted for “ twenty -seven ounces.” The greatest weight is usually 
attained about the end of November, but this entirely depends on the 
season and on the quantity of food obtainable. After a period of frost 
the weight may fall as low as eight ounces, but usually before this 
happens the birds continue their southward movement to open feeding - 
grounds. 
There is a popular belief that woodcock lose weight during migration, 
and that when they first land on our east coast in the autumn they are 
very thin, owing to the want of food during the crossing. As the crossing 
is usually accomplished in a couple of hours it is impossible for the birds 
to lose flesh to any appreciable extent, and their poor condition when they 
arrive is no doubt accounted for by severe weather encountered in the 
north before migration. Mr Victor Ames informs me that on October 20, 
1890, he shot fourteen woodcocks which had come across the sea and that 
their average weight was eleven ounces, all being plump and in good con- 
dition. The woodcock swallows a large amount of grit and sand to aid its 
extremely rapid digestion, which, coupled with its enormous appetite, 
enables the bird to put on flesh very quickly in times of plenty. Thus, 
birds which during a short spell of cold become so reduced that they 
are not worth shooting, with the return of mild weather, as rapidly resume 
their former condition and plumpness. 
Mr E. J. Mann has kindly furnished me with the following record of the 
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