596 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Lordes owne mees and non other and to be at jd. a pece, 

 or jd. ob. (i|d.) at the moste." In the " Correspondence 

 of Dr. Richardson " of North Bierley (p. 226), is an interesting 

 reference to this species, contained in a letter, dated North 

 Bierley, 13th November 1725, and addressed to Sir Hans 

 Sloane in London, thus : — " On Wednesday last I sent you 

 a pott of Woodcocks by .... a Kendall carrier, who inns 

 at the Bell, in Wood Street." 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Scopolax riisttcola. — The Woodcock — Common in most parts ; W. 

 Eddison says it is often numerous ; it comes about the 5th November, 

 and departs about the 17th March. Seldom seen in summer, though 

 he is of opinion it does occasionally remain the year round, and breed 

 in the Storrs Hall and Farnley Woods ; F. O. Morris states that several 

 instances have occurred of their breeding in Yorkshire. J. Heppenstall 

 says it breeds occasionallj'' near Sheffield, and has done so this year in 

 Wharncliffe Wood. Dr. Farrar has seen this bird late in summer, 

 and is satisfied of its breeding here. Arthur Strickland observes that 

 the promontory of Flamborough Head, being the first land that birds 

 from the Continent approach, has been long celebrated for flights 

 of these birds, which are occasionally found there on their first arrival, 

 but these arrivals are much less certain and numerous than they used 

 to be, and the birds soon disperse westwards. 



The earliest authentic account of the Woodcock's nesting 

 in England is, probably, that by Willughby, who stated in 

 his " Ornithology " (1678, pp. 289, 290), that " Mr. Jessop 

 [of Broomhall] saw young Woodcock to be sold at Sheffield." 

 J. Heppenstall of that town also mentioned the fact of young 

 birds being observed {Zool. 1843, p. 15 ; and 1844, p. 667), 

 and according to Seebohm (" British Birds," vol. iii. p. 234), 

 it still breeds in the Sheffield district, where that author 

 saw a nest in April 1870. It was not unknown as a breeding 

 species to Allis and, doubtless owing to the greater interest 

 now taken in ornithology, and to the operation of the Wild 

 Birds Protection Acts, the discovery of the Woodcock's nest 

 is no uncommon occurrence. In addition to the localities 

 referred to, it is reported from near Doncaster in 1834, Stain- 

 borough Woods, near Barnsley, in 183 1 and 1876, in the 

 secluded woods of Airedale, Ribblesdale, the Forest of Bowland, 

 Nidderdale, Wharfedale, Craven, the Washburn Valley (where I 



