VOL. xj RESULTS OF RINGING. 219 



The Woodcock {Scolopax rusticola). 



In the case of the Woodcock, with the exception of 

 tAvo birds, one of which was ringed in Stirhngshire and 

 the other in Nairnshire, all those dealt M'ith were ringed 

 in south-west Scotland and north-west and north-east 

 England, so that no geographical separation seems 

 necessary. There are in all thirty-seven cases of re- 

 covery in winter of birds ringed as nestlings. It will be 

 noticed from the summary given beloAv that rather less 

 than half were found at or near the place they were 

 hatched and rather more than half at a considerable 

 distance away, the nearest being thirty-five miles. 

 Ireland, claims much the largest proportion of those 

 which moved. One ringed in Dumfries-shire as a nestling 

 in May and found the following September in Elgin is 

 a curious record. One might perhaps put this down to 

 the bird having lost its direction. Unfortunately we have 

 in no case a record of a recovery of more than one in- 

 dividual in a brood, but I might mention that of six birds 

 all ringed as nestlings near Carlisle in May, 1911, and all 

 recovered in the following winter, two were reported 

 ten miles to the north and one twenty miles to the north- 

 west (these I have counted as reported "near home "), 

 while two were found in Ireland and one in Essex. 

 Similar instances might be mentioned of Woodcocks 

 ringed in the same place in the same month and recovered 

 in the same winter in widely -separated localities, so that 

 whether the birds move or not would seem to be an 

 individual question (it may be hereditary, but for this 

 we have as yet no evidence). This fact, and the general 

 direction of Ireland in the case of movement, seem to be 

 the outstanding points to be gathered from our records 

 of the Woodcock, so far as they have gone. As compared 

 to the Lapwings ringed in England, the proportions of 

 those staying at home and going away are about the 

 same. 



