542 Obituary. [Ibis, 



the affair, and satisfied himself thiit the record was reliable, 

 but neither he nor Mr. Upcher saw the eggs, whieli were 

 subsequently broken. 



From a sportsman^s point of view, Upcher knew every- 

 thing about game-birds that there was to be known, his 

 special favourite being the Woodcock, of which he had 

 possibly brought dow^n as many to his own gun as any man 

 in England. His home on the coast w'as, in fact, a point of 

 arrival for Woodcocks, Fieldfares, Redwings, and thousands 

 of other migratory birds which cross the North Sea in 

 October and November. This annual passage takes place 

 by night, when the bulk of the migrants pass, those seen by 

 day being for the most part laggards delayed by contrary 

 winds. An exception must, however, be made for the 

 Corvidse, which appear to travel at any time, nearly as 

 many passing by day as by night. 



The Sherringham game-books have records of the number 

 of Woodcocks for many years, and the following list, 

 extracted from them, which was copied for the present 

 writer by Mr. Upcher himself, may here be given as a 

 specimen of the sport which well-preserved coverts can 

 afford : — 



These figures are interesting when compared with returns 

 made from other parts of Norfolk and Suffolk. 



More than once pied varieties came under Mr. Upcher^s 

 notice, and in 1868 a melanism was shot near Sherringliam, 

 which is now iu the Natural History Museum. 



Mr. Upcher's name is commemorated in Hypolais upcheri, 



