134 NATURAL HISTORY 



that cold north-east winds continued to blow on through April 

 and Hay, and that these kinds of birds (what few remained of 

 them) did not depart as usual, but were seen lingering about 

 till the beginning of June. 



The best authority that we can have for the nidification of 

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

 faunists that have written professedly the natural history of 

 particular countries. lSTow, as to the fieldfare, Linnceus, in his 

 Fauna Suecica, says of it that " maximis in arboribus nidificat :" 

 and of the redwing he says, in the same place, that " nidificat 

 u in mediis arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova sex cceruleo-viridia 

 " maculis nigris variis." Hence we may be assured that 

 fieldfares and redwings breed in Sweden. Scopoli says, in 

 his Annus Primus, of the woodcock, that " nupta ad nos venit 

 " circa cequinoctium vernale :" meaning in Tirol, of which he 

 is a native. And afterwards he adds " nidificat in paludibus 



(t alpinis : ova ponit 3 5." It does not appear from 



Kramer that woodcocks breed at all in Austria : but he says 

 " Avis hcec septentrionalium provinciarum cestivo tempore incola 

 u est ; ubi plerumque nidificat. Appropinquante liyeme austra- 

 " liores provincias petit : hinc circa pleniluniurn mensis Octobris 

 "plerumque Austriam transmigrat. Tune rursus circa pleni- 

 u lunium potissimum mensis Martii per Austriam matrimonio 

 i( juncta ad septentrionales provincias redit." For the whole 

 passage (which I have abridged) see ElencJms, &c. p. 351. 

 This seems to be a full proof of the migration of woodcocks ; 

 though little is proved concerning the place of breeding. 



P. 8. There fell in the county of Rutland, in three weeks 

 of this present very wet weather, seven inches and an half of 

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

 these thirty years past in that part of the world. A mean 

 quantity in that county for one year is twenty inches and 

 an half. 



