OP THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 285 



Mountains. It is a resident in the south, but migratory in the north of this area. 

 This species is distinguished by its attenuated first three primaries, and nearly 

 uniform buff underparts. S. rochusseni, an inhabitant of the Moluccas, distin- 

 guished by its unbarred breast, and primaries marked with rudimentary bars ; 

 and S. saturata, an inhabitant, so far as is known, of Java and New Guinea, 

 much smaller than the Common Woodcock and with the primaries barred on the 

 outer webs only. These are all the true Woodcocks at present known to science. 



Habits. Speaking from a naturalist's point of view, and with a full know- 

 ledge of the habits of birds during the moulting season, I should say emphatically 

 that the Woodcocks breeding in the British Islands are stationary, that is, in the 

 sense of not crossing the seas. I am glad to say that this opinion is confirmed 

 by several intelligent gamekeepers, on whose grounds the bird breeds in fair 

 numbers every season. After the breeding season is over the Woodcock is a 

 most skulking bird until its moult is completed ; in this respect it resembles the 

 Snipe. Not only so, but many of these resident Woodcocks are actually breeding 

 even before the return migration of this species in spring, when the birds that 

 breed further north pass our Islands on their way thither. The migrations of the 

 Woodcock are both marked and regular. The bird may be traced leaving its 

 winter quarters in the Mediterranean basin at Gibraltar in the west during the 

 latter half of February, and in Asia Minor in the east during the first half of 

 March. We find it in the British Islands on its way north in March, and it 

 reaches Scandinavia by the end of that month or early in April. The return 

 migration in autumn, which is much more pronounced and noticeable than the 

 vernal one, begins early in October, and continues with varying intensity through 

 the month into the first half of November. Asia Minor is reached towards the 

 end of October, but in the west of the Mediterranean the birds are about a fort- 

 night later. The Woodcock almost invariably migrates by night, up wind, and 

 at a considerable elevation. This species is seldom or never caught in the flight 

 nets, because it continues its lofty course until over dry land, and then drops 

 down almost perpendicularly into the cover below. I have met with great 

 numbers of tired-out Woodcocks in the early morning before actual sunrise on 

 the shores of the Wash, skulking in the hedge-bottoms amongst the drifts of 

 autumn leaves, or on the sea banks amongst the long dry grass. Here they 

 generally remain, if not much disturbed, until the evening, and then, under the 

 cover of darkness, continue their flight inland to their favourite and more suitable 

 winter haunts. Many migrating Woodcocks come to grief at the lighthouses, 

 attracted by the glare of the lanterns. The Woodcock very often arrives on our 

 coasts, especially in autumn, in considerable numbers, or " rushes," but the bird, 

 notwithstanding, is eminently a solitary one, even on passage, and these unusual 

 arrivals are caused by a prolonged spell of unfavourable weather detaining them 

 on Continental Europe and causing them to accumulate whilst waiting for a 



