ie WOODCOCK. 
patches of furze on the Downs, from which they are started 
by the hounds. In the ‘Dukeries,’ in Nottinghamshire, Captain 
Turton, of the Third Dragoon Guards, has written me word 
that they are very numerous, and breed there, as they do in 
Treland, and never leave. 
The promontory of Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, being 
the first land that birds make in coming across from the 
continent, has long been celebrated fer flights of these birds. 
In Cambridgeshire they arrive the end of October, but the 
Rev. Leonard Jenyns mentions one killed at Bottisham on 
the 18th. of that month. They remain till the middle, or 
occasionally till the end of March, and appear to return by 
the same route by which they had come. 
It is, however, curious that large numbers of the first 
arrivals occur on the western coast of Ireland and on the 
Scilly Islands, which are twenty miles west of Land’s End. 
Dr. Stanley tries to account for this by supposing that in the 
weak condition in which the birds are at that season of the 
year, namely, before their arrival, they are carried on by the 
impetus of their flight, urged by the north-east strong gales 
which prevail, and which suit their purpose at the time, farther 
than where they would otherwise settle down. But I cannot 
agree with this explanation, for inasmuch as the farther they 
went, the weaker and more fatigued they would become, the 
natural consequence one might think would be, that they must 
be carried out into the Atlantic Ocean more or less far, 
according as the storm prevailed, and would not be able, any 
more than sooner on their journey, to bring up to the land. 
Besides this they generally come over, as just now said, in 
hazy weather, when the wind is not very high, though from 
that quarter; and do not seem much fatigued on their first 
arrival: they are to some extent, but after resting for a single 
day in any places, though ever so unsuitable to their habits, 
that are first met with, proceed onwards to the south, west, 
and inland. 
Their migration is carried on usually, if not invariably, by 
night or in misty weather, and high up in the air: they travel 
singly or in pairs, but numbers at the same time. They 
have at different times been seen at sea, far from land, and 
some have been captured in the rigging and on the decks of 
vessels, this, too, off the west coast. Many more appear in 
some years than others. 
A few arrive in September, more im October, at various 
