322 SCOLOPACID^. 



vanced period of the season, by no means indicating the 

 wasting effects of very long-continued exertions. It appears 

 that they fly at a considerable altitude, as indeed most birds 

 do when performing their migratory movements. A respect- 

 able person who lived upon the coast, and who, being a keen 

 pursuer of wild-fowl, was in the habit of frequenting the 

 sea-shore at an early hour in the morning, assured me that 

 he had more than once noticed the arrival of a flight of 

 Woodcocks coming from the north-east just at day-dawn. 

 His notice was first attracted by a peculiar sound in the air 

 over his head, that, upon attending to, he found proceeded 

 from birds descending in a direction almost perpendicular ; 

 and which, upon ajiproaching the shore, separated and flew 

 towards the interior ; these he pursued and shot, and wliich 

 proved, as he surmised by the view he had of them as they 

 flew past him, to be Woodcocks." Mr. Selby has also 

 observed that " the first flights of these birds, which seldom 

 remain longer than for a few days, and then pass south- 

 ward, consist chiefly of females ; whilst, on the contrary, 

 the subsequent and latest flights which continue with us, are 

 principally composed of males. It has been noticed by 

 several authors, that the arrival of the males, in a number 

 of our summer visitants, precedes that of the females by 

 many days ; a fact from which we might infer, that in such 

 species a similar separation exists between the sexes during 

 their ^equatorial migration." The circumstance of the sepa- 

 ration for a time of the males and females in the Woodcock 

 or Wood-snipe, as it is sometimes called, accounts for the 

 result which occurs at the early part of the Woodcock 

 season. On making internal examination of twelve Wood- 

 cocks, from one locality, for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 sex, for use in this work, only two of them proved to be 

 males. 



Mr. John Cordeaux, v/hose observations on the migration 

 of birds are well known, informs the Editor that in the 

 autumn of 1882 the " great flight " crossed on the night of 

 October 12th, with strong east wind, fog and drizzling rain. 

 On the morning of the 13th they were found in considerable 



