( 106 ) 



well as jiortions of tbe outer webs of the secoudaries. The underside is pure white, 

 onl}' the chest and under tail-coverts having a mixture of bntf and brown. "Iris 

 brown (lighter than usual) ; bill horn-brown at tij), lighter at base ; legs jiale 

 browuish-j'ellow." 



It is somewhat strange that a resident race so far away from Europe should 

 nut differ from the continental form, but I am not able to find essential characters 

 to separate it. The barrings on the underside are mostly wide and dark, but many 

 Em'opean specimens are perfectly similarly barred, and some Azorean specimens 

 have rather narrow and fine bars. Also the reddish colour on the rnmp varies 

 considerably, as well as the size — quite as much as in Eurojiean birds. 



[Local name : Gallinhola. 



Specimens in the Ponta Delgada Museum : 

 (I, b. Furnas, Sau Miguel. 

 c. albino, Fayal.] 



[We met with the Woodcock on all the islands of the Azores excepting 

 Santa Maria, Graciosa, and (Jorvo ; but though we did not happen to come across 

 it on the first-named island, we heard of its occurrence there from the natives, who 

 knew the " Gallinhola " well. On Graciosa it was not seen, and we were told that 

 it does not occur there ; but possibly this is a mistake, as the country above 

 Praya seems well suited to its requirements. The breeding-season had already 

 commenced when we reached the Azores, and the male birds might generally be 

 seen flighting over the higher ground towards dusk, uttering their well-known 

 whistle and croak. They were fairly common of an evening ou the heath-covered 

 moors above Furnas, and were sometimes met with in the daytime on the pine- 

 aud faya-covered ridges in the neighbourhood. Ou Terceira the Woodcock was 

 fairly common right up to the edge of the Caldeira, and on several occasions we 

 put up birds among the heather at an elevation of about 200it ft. The species 

 was also tolerably common on Pico, Fayal, and Flores ; but on San Jorge by far 

 the greatest numbers were met with. On this island we lived in a tiny stone house 

 situated on the high ground amongst patches of giant heath, broom, and other 

 bushes — ideal woodcock country— and many birds nesting in the neighbouring 

 coverts passed over the house during their evening flight, and might be shot 

 from the front door. Sometimes we saw the male and female rise together from 

 some patch of broom ; the latter, uttering a shrill whistle, made straight for 

 her feeding-ground with a rapid flight, leaving the male to continue his solemn 

 evening flight. Here Mr. Harwood shot a nearly pure white specimen. 



On April lf<th, while on the island of Flores, a living female Woodcock, which 

 had been caught on its nest, was brought in to us ; the four eggs had been broken 

 in the struggle. Ou San Jorge on May 8th we procured a nest containing four 

 slightly incubated eggs. On May 27th we found a nest with four broken eggs 

 among the heath in a pine-wood on the top of Fayal, and collected a female 

 accompanied by very young birds. The eggs are of the ordinary type, and measure 

 1-7 by l-:3in.] 



51. [Phalaropus hyperboreus (L.). 



Specimen in the Ponta Uelgada Museum : 



a. Arrifes, near Ponta Delgada, San Miguel (in nearly full summer 

 plumage). 

 The Red-necked Phalarope is a rare straggler to the Azores.] 



