2r>4 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. ix. 



of the primaries white, cxcei)t towards the tip — taken from 

 the description of Puffinns assimilis by Howard Saunders in 

 his Illustrated Manual of British Birds (2nd ed., p. 744), and 

 stated by Mi". Witherby to be distinguishing characters of 

 P, a. godmani, well clescril)e the Irish specimen. A close 

 examination of the under tail-coverts shows that a few of the 

 longer feathers have part of the outer web blackish. 



It would thus seem to be the Madeiran Little Shearwater. 



The measurements in millimetres are : wing 178, tail 75, 

 tarsus 37, middle toe and claw 40, and bill from feathers 25. 



A. R. Nichols. 



WOODCOCK pp:rchin(;. 



The habit of many of the Scolopacid;e of ])erching on trees, 

 posts, rails, &c. , is well known. The Common Snipe constantly 

 does this in the breeding season, especially in the evening, or 

 when flushed from its nest, or where danger is close at hand. 

 This habit of perching I have over and over again observed 

 in the case of the Common Snipe, Redshank, and Common 

 Sandpiper. The same thing has been also noted of the 

 Wood-Sandpiper, Greenshank, Dusky Redshank, Bar-tailed 

 and Black-tailed Godwits, Reeve, Curlew, and Wliimbrel 

 (see British Birds, Vol. III., pp. 59, 89). 



But with the Woodcock, perching appears to be a verj'^ 

 unusual habit, and the only reference to it I have been able 

 to trace is in .4 History of British Birds, by Rev. F. O. Morris, 

 who rather vaguely says (Vol. IV., p. 25G) : "A Woodcock 

 has been seen at Newnham in Gloucestershire to perch on an 

 oak-tree." I can now, however, give an undoubted instance 

 that this is an occasional habit of this species. On December 

 18th, 1915, I was covert shooting with my friend, Mr. J. K. 

 Smith, of Whiston Eaves, near Cheadle, Staffordshire, when 

 his attention was directed to a small brown object ])erched on 

 a rail at the cover side, some fifty yards ahead. At first it 

 appeared to be a bunch of withered oak-leaves at the end of 

 a twig, but as he drew nearer, the object, which he now saw 

 A\as a Woodcock, flew away. Mr. Smith carefully marked it 

 <lo\\n higher up the wood, followed it \\\) a little later on. 

 flushed the bird from the spot, and shot it. There can there- 

 fore be no doubt as to the identity of the bird. 



This is the first and only instance that either Mr. Smith 

 or I have come across, personally, of the actual i)erching of 

 the Woodcock. The bird probably jumped on to the rail 

 to have a better look around to ascertain the cause of the 

 noise made by the a])proaching beaters. 



John R. B. Maskfielu. 



