134 MIGKATin2r. 



The best authority that we cau have for the nidification of 

 the birds above mentioned, in any district, is the testimony 

 •>f faunists that have written professedly the natural history 

 of particular countries. Now, as to the fieldfare, Linnaeus, 

 in his Fauna Suecica, sjiys of it, that " maximis in arbonbus 

 nidijicat ;^^ "it builds in the largest trees." And of the 

 red\mig, he says in the same place, that " nidificat in mediis 

 arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova aex ccsruleo-viridia maculis nigris 

 variis.'" "It builds in the midst of shrubs or hedges; it 

 produces six eggs, of a sea-green colour, with varied black 

 spots." Hence we may be assured that fieldfiires and red- 

 wings breed in Sweden. Scopoli says, in his Annus Frimus, 

 of the woodcock, that " nupta ad nos venit circa cequinoctium 

 vernale:'" "when mated, it comes to us about the vernal 

 equinox ;" meaning in Tyrol, of which he is a native. And 

 afterwards he adds, " nidificat in paludibus alpinis : ova 

 ponit 3 — 5." " It builds its nest in the Alpine marshes, 

 and lays from three to five eggs." It does not appear from 

 Kramer that woodcocks breed at all in Austria ; but he says, 

 " Avis hcec septentrionalium provinciarum cBstivo tempore 

 incola est ; ubi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme 

 australiores provincias petit : Mnc circa plenihmium potissi- 

 mum mensis Octobris plerumque Austria?n transmigrat. Tune 

 Tursus circa plenilunium potissimum mensis Martii per Aus- 

 triam matrimonio juncta ad sept entrionales provincias reditu"* 

 "This bird, in summer, inhabits the northern provinces, 

 where it generally nests. On the approach of winter it 

 seeks more southern provinces ; it usually leaves this at 

 the October full-moon, generally in the direction of 

 Austria. Then it returns back, after mating, generally 

 about the March full-moon." Tor the whole passage 

 (which I have abridged), see Elenchus, &c., p. 351. This 

 seems to be a fuH proof of the emigration of woodcocks ; 

 though little is proved concerning the place of their 

 breeding.* 



P.S. — There fell in the county of Eutland, in three weeks 

 of this present very wet weather, seven inches and a half cf 

 rain, which is more than has fallen in any three weeks for 



* Woodcocks arnve in Silesia about the latter end of April, or beginning oJ 

 May, and leave it again in October. — W. J. 



