"Hungry Woodcock"

by Archibald Thorburn

Hand Coloured Print

Paper Size: 11 x 16 ins / 29 x 40 cm

Image Size: 10 x 13 ins / 23 x 33 c

A footnote in the 1876 edition of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne refers to the female woodcock's habit of carrying her young by clasping the little bird tightly between her thighs and so holding it close to her own body whilst flying. Not only do they carry their young backwards and forwards from the woods to the marshes to feed, but they also carry them to safety when startled, dropping the fledgeling fifty or sixty yards away into cover.

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