WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 157 
transparent, and thus showing the blood they had 
swallowed. 
In some parts of France, where Plovers fly in 
large flocks, they are decoyed into nets spread on 
the ground, by the playing of a looking-glass, which 
attracts their notice, — with the addition of some 
stuffed-birds, and here and there a live one inter- 
mixed. In another part, they are hunted at night 
with torches, the light of which attracts them. 
Woodcocks and Snipes are too well known to 
require description, as far as their outward appear- 
ance is concerned. But, in their habits, and more 
particularly in the migrations of the former, there is 
much to excite our curiosity. With few exceptions, 
other birds manifest a fondness for each others 
society, and even if they do not fly in flocks, may be 
found associating together, as if they disliked a 
lonely, solitary life. Not so the Woodcock and the 
Snipe ; for they, except at the breeding-season, 
seem to shun, not only other birds, but even their 
own species. It may be said, that this is incor- 
rect, because often in the same woods, or favourite 
marshy haunts, they may be occasionally put up in 
considerable numbers; but, in these cases, it should 
be remembered, that if many are found, the number 
depends, not upon any social feeling, but the attrac- 
tion of their common food ; a large proportion of 
their lives being passed alone in the solitude of a 
marsh, or the shaded retirement of a wood. If un- 
disturbed, and in some cases, even although dis- 
turbed, there will the Woodcock or the Snipe re- 
main, till called away by that instinctive faculty 
which impels them to visit regions far distant, and 
