The Natural History of Selborne 199 



. . . " Ranged in figure wedge their way, 



And set forth 



Their airy caravan high over seas 



Flying, and over lands with mutual wing 



Easing their flight :" MlLTON. 



but scout and hurry along in little detached parties of six or 

 seven in a company ; and sweeping low, just over the surface 

 of the land and water, direct their course to the opposite 

 continent at the narrowest passage they can find. They 

 usually slope across the bay to the south-west, and so pass 

 over opposite to Tangier, which, it seems, is the narrowest 

 space. 



In former letters we have considered whether it was pro- 

 bable that woodcocks in moonshiny nights cross the German 

 ocean from Scandinavia. As a proof that birds of less speed 

 may pass that sea, considerable as it is, I shall relate the 

 following incident, which, though mentioned to have happened 

 so many years ago, was strictly "matter of fact : As some 

 people were shooting in the parish of Trotton, in the county 

 of Sussex, they killed a duck in that dreadful winter, 1708-9, 

 with a silver collar about its neck,* on which were engraven 

 the arms of the king of Denmark. This anecdote the rector 

 of Trotton at that time has often told to a near relation of 

 mine ; and, to the best of my remembrance, the collar was in 

 the possession of the rector. 



At present I do not know anybody near the seaside that 

 will take the trouble to remark at what time of the moon 

 woodcocks first come ; if I lived near the sea myself I would 

 soon tell you more of the matter. One thing I used to ob- 

 serve when I was a sportsman, that there were times in which 

 woodcocks were so sluggish and sleepy that they would drop 

 again when flushed just before the spaniels, nay, just at the 

 muzzle of a gun that had been fired at them ; whether this 

 strange laziness was the effect of a recent fatiguing journey I 

 shall not presume to say. 



* I have read a like anecdote of a swan. 



