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Woodcock's and Jack-Snipes.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Woodcock's Nest: Early Breeding of; Habits of, in Spring; First Arrival
of; Anecdotes of; Manner of Carrying their Young-Habits of Snipe-
Number of Jack-Snipes-Solitary Snipe.
March 9, 1846.-A woodcock's nest, with three eggs, was
brought to me today. Two years ago, a boy brought me a
young woodcock nearly full-grown, and fledged, in the second
week of April-the exact day I do not remember. Reckoning
from this, I should suppose that the woodcock is about the first
bird to hatch in this country. A few years ago, it was supposed
that none remained in Britain after the end of winter, except a
few wounded birds, which were unable to cross the sea to their
usual breeding-places.
However, since the great increase of fir-plantations, great
numbers remain to breed. In the woods of Altyre and Darnaway
(as well as in all the other extensive plantations in the country),
during the whole spring and summer, I see the woodcocks flying
to and fro every evening in considerable numbers. As early as
six or seven o'clock, they begin to fly, uttering their curious cry,
which resembles more the croak of a frog than anything else;
varied, however, by a short shrill chirp. Down the shaded
course of the river, or through the avenues and glades of the
forest, already dark from the shadow of the pine-trees, the
woodcocks keep up a continual flight, passing and repassing in
all directions, as if in search of each other. As the twilight
comes on, in the open part of the country, they leave the shade
of the woods and fly down to the swamps and pools near the seashore and elsewhere, to feed during the night. When watching
in the evening for wild ducks or geese near the swamps by the
shore, I have constantly seen them pitch close to me, and commence feeding in their peculiar manner. These birds must probably come from the Altyre woods, the nearest point of which is
at a distance of two or three miles. In the evening the woodcock's flight is rapid and steady, instead of being uncertain and
owl-like, as it often is in the bright sunshine. I consider their
vision to be peculiarly adapted to the twilight, and even to the
darker hours of night-this being the bird's feeding-time. In
very severe and protracted snow-storms and frosts I have seen
them feeding at the springs during the daytime; but in moderate
weather they pass all the light hours in the solitary recesses of
the quietest parts of the woods, although occasionally one will
remain all day in the swamp, or near the springs on the hill side,
where he had been feeding during the night. When they first
arrive, about the month of November, I have sometimes fallen
in with two or three brace far up in the mountain, while grouse-shooting. They then sit very close, and are easily killed. The
first frost, however, sends them all to the shelter of the woods.
No bird seems less adapted for a long flight across the sea than
the woodcock; and it is only by taking advantage of a favourable wind that they can accomplish their passage. An intelligent
master of a ship once told me, that in his voyages to and from
Norway and Sweden, he has frequently seen them, tired and
exhausted, pitch for a moment or two with outspread wings in
the smooth water in the ship's wake; and having rested themselves for a few moments, continue their weary journey.
Although those that remain here breed so early in the year,
the woodcocks that migrate do not leave England till the end of ,
March or beginning of April. In the wild extensive woods of
Sussex, I have often seen them in the evenings, about the begin
ning of April, flying to and fro in chace of each other, uttering
a hoarse croaking, and sometimes engaging each other at a kind
of tilting-match with their long bills in the air. I remember an
old poaching keeper, whose society I used greatly to covet when
a boy, shooting three at a shot, while they were engaged in an
aerial tournament of this kind.
There was a sporting turnpike-man (a rare instance of such a
combination of professions), on Ashdown forest, in Sussex, who
used to kill two or three woodcocks every evening for a week or
two in March ' and April-shooting the birds while he smoked
his pipe, and drank his smuggled brandy and water at his turnpike-gate, which was situated in a glade in the forest, where the
birds were in the habit of flying during the twilight.
I rather astonished an English friend of mine, who was staying
with me in Inverness-shire during the month of June, by asking
him to come out woodcock-shooting one evening. And his surprise was not diminished by my preparations for our battue, which
consisted of ordering out chairs and cigars into the garden at the
back of the house, which happened to be just in the line of the
birds' flight from the woods to the swamps. After he had killed
three or four from his chair, we stopped murdering the poor
birds, who were quite unfit to eat, having probably young ones,
or eggs, to provide for at home, in the quiet recesses of the
woods, along the banks of Lochness, which covers afford as good
woodcock-shooting as any in Scotland.
The female makes her nest, or rather, lays her eggs-for nest
she has none-in a tuft of heather, or at the foot of a small tree.
The eggs are four in number, and resemble those of a plover.
They are always placed regularly in the nest, the small ends of
the eggs meeting in the centre. When disturbed from her nest,
she flutters away like a partridge, pretending to be lame, in
order to take the attention of the intruder away from her young
or eggs. It is a singular, but well-ascertained fact, that woodcocks carry their young ones down to the springs and soft
ground where they feed. Before I knew this, I was greatly
puzzled, as to how the newly-hatched young of this bird could go
from the nest, which is often built in the rankest heather, far
from any place where they could possibly feed, down to the
marshes. I have, however, ascertained that the old bird lifts her
young in her feet, and carries them one by one to their feeding-ground. Considering the apparent improbability of this curious
act of the woodcock, and the unfitness of their feet and claws
for carrying or holding any substance whatever, I should be
unwilling to relate it on my own unsupported evidence ; but it
has been lately corroborated by the observations of several intelligent foresters and others, who are in the habit of passing
through the woods during March and April.
The woodcock breeds a second time in July and August. I
am of opinion that all those which are bred in this country emigrate about the beginning of September, probably about the full
moon in that month. At any rate they entirely disappear from
woods where any day in June or July I could find several brace.
In September and the beginning of October I could never find a
single bird, though I have repeatedly tried to do so. A few
come in October; but the greatest number which visit this
country arrive at the November full-moon; these birds invariably taking advantage of the lightest nights for their
journey. In many parts of the country near the coast, the day,
and almost the hour, of their arrival can be accurately calculated
on, as also the particular thickets and coverts where the first
birds alight.
The snipe also begins to breed in March, though it is not quite
so early a bird as the woodcock. Snipes hatch their young in
this country, breeding and rearing them in the swamps, or near
the springs on the mountains. During the pairing time the
snipes fly about all day, hovering and wheeling in the air above
the rushes where the female bird lies concealed, and uttering
their peculiar cry, which resembles exactly the bleating of a
goat, and from which they have one of their Gaelic names, which
signifies the air-goat.
About the end of July and first week in August the snipes
descend from the higher grounds, and collect in great numbers
about certain favourite places. They remain in these spots for a
week or ten days, and then disperse. The rest of the season we
have but few in this part of the country. Particular ditches and
streams near my house always afford me two or three snipes; and
as fast as I kill these, others appear.
Occasionally flights of jack-snipes come here ; generally about
the end or middle of October ; and last year I find, on referring
to my game-book, that on the 19th of October I killed eight
brace of jack-snipes in an hour or two, finding them all in a small
rushy pool and in the adjoining ditch. Usually, however, I
only find three or four during a day's shooting; but in this
manner I kill a great many in the course of the season, as there
appears to be a constant succession of these birds from October
to March, when they leave us. The jack-snipe never remains to
breed here. I can scarcely call the solitary snipe a bird of this
country ; never having seen but one in Scotland, and that was in
Sutherlandshire.
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