In the winter of 1797, the gamekeeper of E. M. Pleydell, Esq., of Whatcomb, Dorsetshire, brought him a woodcock which he had caught in a net set for rabbits, alive and unhurt. Mr. P. scratched the date upon a bit of thin brass, bent it round the woodcock’s leg, and let it fly. In December next year, Mr. Pleydell shot this bird with the brass about its leg, in the very same wood where it had been first caught by the keeper.
Comical Direction.—Hawker says in a country where woodcocks are scarce, be sure to put a marker in a tree.
Woodcock Fancier.—Mr. Jeremiah Tupman, who died about thirteen years since at Berkeley, caught upon his estate at Lyston, a young male woodcock, which he carefully reared, and having procured a mate for it, they bred in considerable abundance. He was so pleased with his success, that he actually altered his will, which was originally made in favour of a young lady, and left his fortune to the minister at Berkeley, to be principally laid out in the breed of woodcocks, upon the neglect of which the estate was to revert to the family relations; a reversion for which probably the family were not long in expectancy.—Bewick—Davy—Grieff—Daniel—Wild Sports—Lloyd, &c.
Woodland, s. Woods, grounds covered with wood.
Woodlark, s. A melodious sort of wild lark.
Woodman, s. A sportsman, a hunter.
Woodpecker, s. A bird.
