272 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA, Linneus. 
WOODCOCK. 
Mr. Selby’s often quoted remarks on the migratory 
habits of the Woodcock, as observed more particularly 
on the Northumberland coast, agree so nearly with the 
experience of our local naturalists, that it is difficult 
to describe the habits of this bird in Norfolk without 
apparent plagiarism. As the chief prize of the sportsman 
also, and the bonne bouche of the epicure, this popular 
migrant attracts universal attention, indeed its autumnal 
and vernal movements, though from widely different 
motives, are not less noted than those of the cuckoo, 
the nightingale, and the swallow. 
The southward migration commences by the end of 
September* or beginning of October, when the first 
flights reach our shores from their northern breeding 
erounds. ‘These almost invariably pass on to the south- 
ward or westward after a brief rest, and are followed by 
larger bodies at intervals, depending much upon the 
wind, throughout October and November, the later birds 
becoming more resident in our coverts; and even in 
December and January fresh flights make their appear- 
ance from time to time, but these, as is the case also with 
the snipe, almost invariably precede or arrive simulta- 
neously with severe and stormy weather. On the 4th of 
January, 1854, as Mr. Dowell informs me, a flight was 
seen at Blakeney during a gale from the north-east with 
severe frost and snow, and the same thing was observed 
at Yarmouth in January, 1867, during the intense cold 
* T find but one or two records either in Mr. Dowell’s or my 
own notes of woodcocks killed in September, and those very late 
in the month. Thompson (“ Birds of Ireland,” vol. ii., p. 235), gives 
a few rare instances of their appearance in the north of Ireland 
towards the end of September, and one as early as the 8th. 
