WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 
159 
December, this same bird was shot in the same 
wood, where it had been captured in the preceding 
February . 
That Woodcocks, however, can and do breed in 
this country, is beyond a doubt; instances without 
end have occurred ; one of which alone we shall 
notice, on account of a very . curious circumstance 
connected with it. 
The communication first appeared in a Scotch 
newspaper, the Elgin Courier. In the month of 
April, near Dornaway Castle, the seat of the Earl of 
Moray, a Woodcock was flushed, which flew away 
as if wounded. On a person, who was present, 
remarking this to the game-keeper, the latter obser- 
ved, that the bird was not wounded, but was carry- 
ing off a young one in her talons, and that no doubt 
the nest was close at hand: this was found to he the 
case, and two other young ones were discovered in 
it, which, on being disturbed, ran off, uttering 
a piping note. The keeper spoke very positively of 
its being customary with the old birds to fly off 
every morning and evening with the young ones, to 
the nearest springs, and when they were fed, they 
were conveyed back to the nest in a similar 
manner. 
It may be reasonably questioned, whether the 
keepers account is quite correct throughout. We 
should certainly doubt the latter part, but we know 
too little of the habits of Woodcocks, respecting their 
nests and management of their brood, to give a 
decided contradiction to the supposition of their 
being thus in the daily habit of moving their young 
ones. That a bird, in many respects allied to the 
