File:Britain's birds and their nests (1910) (14732346116).jpg

Identifier: britainsbirdsthe00thom (find matches)
Title: Britain's birds and their nests
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thomson, Arthur Landsborough, Sir, 1890- Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933 Rankin, George
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London : W. & R. Chambers
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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eeding Woodcocks has become muchgreater, but is still insignificant in comparison with thegreat flights that arrive from overseas during theOctober nights, and remain with us till early March.Some of the spring migrants are still passing throughthe country when our own Woodcocks are nesting. As a breeding bird it is distributed over the greaterpart of the British Isles. The nest is a mere depressionin the ground with a slight lining of dead leaves, and isfrequently close to the base of a tree. Laying beginsearly, often by the middle of March, and to find eggswhen there is snow on the gromid is a common occur-rence. The four glossy eggs are less pyriform than istypical of Waders, and are yellowish in ground-colour,with gray under-markings and bold blotches in two shadesof reddish brown. Against a background of dead leavesthe sitting bird and the exposed eggs are alike nearlyinvisible. We have, however, seen a clutch of pure whiteeggs—rather a rare occurrence—and the conspicuousness
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**»<?■-■^^ Plate 23. WOODCOCK—Scolopax rusticida. Length, 14-25 in. ; wing, 7-5 in. (LiMIcOL.E : Charadriidfe.)I 68 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 69 of these emphasised by vivid contrast the value of thenormal coloration. The active little chicks are cladin rich rufous down, paler on the under-parts, and longi-tudinally banded with chestnut above, with various minormarkings. That a Woodcock will sometimes fly carrying one ofits chicks has for long been known to naturalists. Insome old works it is stated that the chick is candied inthe bill, a practically impossible feat for this species, asGilbert White sanely pointed out. Others describe thechick as being carried in the claws; but the ordinary,if not the only way, is to carry the young one betweenthe thighs and pressed close to the body, additionalsecurity being at times obtained by use of the bill. Thishabit is most often noted when a Woodcock is alarmedwhen with its chicks; one is immediately carried somedistance away,

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