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terpitlar, to find a fly juft ready to come out ; this has Seen produced from the chryfalis of a worm, which had before found its way into the fruit, and eat up the caterpillar, which was the original pofleiTor of the place. Memoirs Acad. Scienc. 1736. Wooo-Cock, in zoology. Seethe article Scolopax.
This is a bird of paffage, and comes into England about the middle of October, and goes away again in March. _ During their fray with us, they ramble about from place-to place, never remaining above eight or ten days together in the fame Wood or meadow. They feldomor never fly in the. day- time, unlefs disturbed by men, or by fome bcaft. In what- ever places they are pur up, they always fly to the thickeft Wood that lies near, and there hide themfelves under the ttur- dieft and thickeft trees, where they remain all day fearching for earthworms, and other food, under the fallen leaves. . . When ni^ht comes, they go out of the Woods, and generally refort to watery places, where they may .wafli their, bills, fouled with the taking their prey, and thrufting into the earth ; here they remain all the night, and if there js_ tolerable fhelter, they flay alio all the day under it ; but when there wants this, they .fly away tO;th.e ; 7#Wi in the morning. In their flight, they choofe the fhadieft places, and will coafl it away to a great diftance in fearch 'of the.higheft Woods to re- tire to, that they may be the better fecured, and the more de- fended from the annoyance of the Wind. While they -travel under fhelter, they always fly low; but when they cqme to . any glade to- crofs, they mount.to a confiderablq height ; but as loon as they have pafled this, they fink.- again. They hate flying high, and they are afraid tu fly among trees, becaufe, like the hare, they fee but very badly itrait before them ; and it is owing to this imperfection in their fight, that they are fo cafily taken in nets fpread in their places of re- fort.
The draw-net, in countries which are very woody, is ex- tremely profitable in this fport, it being no uncommon -thing to take ten or a dozen Wood-cocks at a time in it. The method of ufing it to advantage is this : There muft be chofen a proper place in fome thick. Wood, where thefe birds are fuund to refort, and a place muft be cleared for them, and for the net. Suppofing the Wood about three hundred paces long, in this cafe, toward the middle there muft be cut a walk through it eight fathoms wide : near the end of this, two oppofite trees are to be pitched upon, proper to fupport the two fides of the net ; the boughs of thefe arc to be all cleared away, and the nets fattened by logs and pullies. When the net is thus placed, the fportfman muft provide fome covert in which he may ftand concealed. This is eafily made by half a dozen boughs of trees with their leaves on ; and the fportfman, when he has {tuck thefe down in the ground, and interwoven their boughs together, may either ftand behind it, or fit down on a bundle of dry fern, or any other fuch matter.
At three or four foot diflancc from this ftand, toward the net, there is to be a ftrong ftake fattened into the ground, and on this the lines of the net are to be fattened when it is drawn up. When there comes a Woodcock, the net is to be let down as foon as ever he is taken, to entangle him the more, for, other- wire, in the ftruggling he may chance to make his efcape. The fportfman is then to run up, and break awing, andcrufh his head. The net is then to be refitted again as quick as pof- fible, for when one is caught, there is great reafon to fulpect that many more are coming the fame way, which will be all loft if the fportfman is flow at his work.
If a hare, or any other creature worth the taking, come along the walk, the net is not to be immediately let down upon it, for in that cafe it would certainly ftart back, or run forwards, and in either cafe would probably make its efcape : the net is to be drawn up five or fix foot, that he may pals quietly under it without fufpicion : as foon as he is gone by, the fportfman is to make a great fhout, and let go the net ; the creature will, on this noife, ftart back, and will thus be certainly taken in the net.
There are, in many places, great thoroughfares through fome open piece of ground, by which Woodcocks pafs in great num- bers from one Wood to another. If there be in thefe two trees, naturally planted, (o as to fufta'n the nets, they are by all means to be ufed ; but if not, the fportfman will find it worth his while to be at the cxpence of planting two trees deep in the earth, at proper diftances,. that they may ftand all wea- thers. Nets fpread between thefe, are the moft fatal of all others to thefe birds, for all that inhabit cither one or the other of the Woods come this way at times, without fuf- picion of any danger or difturbance. See the article Draw- Net.
There is another method of taking thefe birds in high Woods, with thofe nets called hays, of the nature of the rabbets-hays, only with fmaller mefhes. The Woodcocks are. to be driven into thefe, and there fhould always be at k-aft two or three of them planted together. When the- fportfman has provided himfelf with nets, he is to take five or fix perfons" into the Wood with him. The proper Woods fur this purpofe are thofe of feven or eight years growth ; and the people are to go into fome part of them, near the middle. The nets or hays arc 3
to Be placed in the fame manner as they are for taking of rab- bets, but two or three joining together at the end, and hang- ing over flopewife that way which the Wood-cocks are in- tended to be driven.
The.nets. being thus fixed, let the company go.to the end of the. Wood, .placing themfelves at about ten rods diftance from one another ; they muft . all have flicks in their hands, and. they are- to move forward flowly toward the nets, makir.o- a noife by firiking the flicks , againfl the trees and branches, and by holloeing with their voices : in this manner they- are to move .up tu the net ; and the Wood-cocks jn that part of the Wood will ajl be terrified before them, but will not take wing, but run along upon the ground, and thus be driven along like a drove of heaits, fo that when the company. come up, they "will find almoft all of them in the net. When that part of the Wood is ; _thus drove, the 'nets are to be turned the other way, and'placed flopewife in the contrary direction,, and the com- pany retiring to the other end of the Wood, are to drive the Wood-cocks that are in that part with the fame noife, ull^ey
'have fent them-into the nets in the fame manner. , - j
'I hus all the Wood-cocks in the Wood may be taken with very little trouble, and this may be done equally at any time of the day.
Another way of taking this bird is by means of noofes or fprings. See the article Noose.
I he Wpod-cock and the -fnip^. are both eafily taken alfo with bird-lime s when their places.'of refort ate known, but they are not fo eafily found-as.many other birds.. [. The cuftom of the Woodcock is ufually. to be upon the banks under hedges, and by the fides of ditches toward the .fun ; and and they will fuffer the fportfman to come nearer them in the day-time after a moon-fhipy night, than after a. dark one. The reafon of which is, that having^ fed well by moon-light, they are only fit for reft in the day following ; but when the night has been dark, they are fecking food all day long. The liiipes naturally lie by the fides of rivers, .when the plafhes and ponds are frozen, and they always lie with their heads up or down the ftream, never tranfverfcly. In order to take either of thefe birds by bird-lime, the fportf- man muft be provided with a large number of fmall and fmooth twigs, neatly'and evenly covered with good bird-lime. Thefe muft be placed Hoping, fome one way, fome another, and the whole place about where they refort muft be covered with them. The fportfman then muft conceal himfelf very carefully, that the fight of him may not frighten away the game.
W ooo-Cock- Shell, a name given by the Englifh naturalifts to a peculiar kind of the purpura. It is called in French, becajje. See the article Becasse.
W ' oQTi-Land, in agriculture, a term ufed by the farmers of many counties of England, for a fort of fou, from its conflant humidity, and dark colour, refembling the Ibil in Woods, which, of whatever nature it originally is, will always be made to appear thus from the continual dropping of trees, and the want of a free air and fun, together with the fall of leaves, deftroyed and waflied to pieces by the wet. This foil in the open countries has a confiderable quantity of clay in it, and holds the water a long time that once falls upon it : in wet weather it flicks firmly to the plough-fhare, and in dry is very apt to crack. In uncultivated places it ufually produces rufhes and rufh-grafs. A moift and dripping year is extremely detrimental to this fort of land. Morelon's North.
P . 38.
WooD-Lark, in ornithology. See the article Alauda.
This is one of the fweeteit of our fin ging- birds, and is indeed very little inferior to the nightingale, when ip good health, for we are not to judge by. fuch as are made feeble by improper foodj or want of cleanlinefs in their cages. It is one of the tendereft b'irjds.we have, and yet it breeds the fooneft of any that we khuw of. They principally frequent gravelly grounds, and the fides of hills, that are expofed full to the fun, and if there be "any flumps of oaks in thefe places, they always refort to them. The females couple with the males in the beginning of February, at which time, and never before, they part with their laft year's brood j immediately after coupling, they betake themfelves to building their neft. They generally build in lay, or grounds, where the grafs is rank, and is grown brown. The princpal material they ufe is dry grafs, and they always choofe fome place fheltered by a good tuft for their neft, to defend themfelves from the cold winds, which are'very fevere at that feafon. They feed their young principally with a fmall red worm ; but it is very diffi- cult to find this kind, to feed a neft of them under our care, and they will 'not do well without it - 3 fo that they fcarce ever come to anv thing this way.
The young branchers are taken in June, July, and Augufr. After this they may be taken in large numbers at the latter end of September,' which is their general flight-feafoii, and then from the beginning of January to the beginning of February, at which time they get together to couple for breeding. Thofe that are taken in the fummer-months, are ufually taken in nets, by the help of a hawk.
The fportfman is to go out in a dewy morning, and fixing on fome hill, he is to go to that fide of it which faces the
lifing
