46 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
~ About the month of March they return from the 
piains to the mountains. ‘They go away paired, 
‘then they fly {wiftly all the night without ftop.| 
ping. ‘They hide themfelves in the woods all the | 
day, they fet out again in the evening to continue 
their flight. 
They make their nefts on the ground, as all 
birds do who cannot perch: the neft is compofed | 
of leaves and dried grafs, intermixed with litte | 
fticks ; it is made with very little art, at the foot 
of a tree, or under a root, and they lay four or 
five eggs. 
As foon as the young are hatched they leave the 
neft, and run though they are only covered with 
down. ‘They begin to fly, too, as foon as they 
have quill feathers, and before the feathers are 
formed upon their bodies. 
When they are difcovered-they run and flutter, 
and their parents have been feen to take one of | 
their young ones, probably the weakeft, and carry 
it more than a mile. 
‘The parent birds are very fond of each other, | 
and the one often refts its bill upon the back of 
the other. - The Woodcock is found in the com 
tinent of America, as well as in Europe, Afia, 
and Africa, and in almoft every climate. 
2 
Though 

