The Way of a Woodcock The cult of birds in
Britain has produced a Trust for Ornithology ; and the latest object of research is the wood- cock. A questionnaire is being sent forth on behalf of the Trust from the University Museum, Oxford. The woodcock is less mysterious only than the cuckoo. Its migrations are both local (or internal to the British Isles) and wide. It is said to carry its young, almost like a monkey. There are two distinct types of the bird in regard to coloration and probably to size. Some people think—certainly such is my experience —that the number which nest in England increases. It was, for example, a surprise to know that a pair nested a few years ago almost on the edge of Liverpool ; and incidentally the mother bird when disturbed shammed wounded exactly in the partridge manner. Many little problems are to be solved especially in the bird's ecology, as they say at Oxford ; so all who have observed or are likely to observe the bird are re- quested to write to Mr. W. B. Alexander, at the Oxford Museum, for a paper of questions. In such congenial research work anyone who cares may take a hand.
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