The WOODCOCK (_Scolopax rusticola_) has a very long, straight, and slender bill; the head flattened; the tarsi short; and the legs covered with feathers. They live in the woods, and do not frequent the sea-shore or river-banks. They differ from the Snipes in having the body fuller, the tibiæ feathered at the joint, the tarsi shorter, the wings broader, and the bill firmer (Fig. 129). They are also larger in size. In points they differ from most of the Grallæ; but, taken as a whole, it has been thought right to place them among this order. [Illustration: Fig. 129.--Common Woodcock (_Scolopax rusticola_, Temm.).] The Woodcock inhabits, during the summer, the lofty, wooded mountain-ranges of Central and Northern Europe. Driven away by the severe cold, they descend into the plains, and reach France and England about the month of November. They are shy, timid birds, and conceal themselves all day long in the depths of the most retired woods, busying themselves in turning over the leaves with their bills to catch worms and grubs, which form their food. The brightness of daylight prevents their seeing clearly, and they do not possess full power of their visual faculties until evening, when they emerge from their retreats, and seek their sustenance in the cultivated fields, damp meadows, or in the vicinity of springs. Woodcocks do not all migrate, but remain throughout the year in the neighbourhood of springs which the most bitter cold cannot freeze. Solitary during the greater part of the year, they pair in spring; building their nest on the ground with grass and roots, placing it close to the trunk of some tree (the Scotch fir by preference, it is said), or in a holly-bush. The female lays four or five oval eggs, rather larger than those of a Pigeon. The young ones run about as soon as they are hatched: the parent birds guard them with careful solicitude, and manifest on all occasions the greatest love of their offspring. If any danger threatens, the old birds catch up their young, holding them under their necks by means of their beaks, and afterwards transferring them to a place of safety. [Illustration: Fig. 130.--Woodcocks (White and Isabelle-coloured).] These birds seem always to feel an affection for places they have once frequented, and love to return to them; the following fact, at least, would lead one to think so. A gamekeeper, having snared a Woodcock, gave it its liberty after fastening a copper ring to its leg. The following year he perfectly recognised, by the help of this mark, the Woodcock which had formerly been his captive; it had again visited its old haunts. During ten months of the year the Woodcock is mute; when the early leaves begin to bud it utters a feeble cry--_pitt-pitt-corr!_--to attract a mate.