14 



enumerated as English may have escaped from captivity, and being 

 afterwards shot, have been described as British. Some may have 

 been described as British in other ways the Spotted Sandpiper 

 for instance, which seems in the new world to take the place of 

 the Common Sandpiper in the old. Was the Spotted Sandpiper 

 ever thought of as British till Bewick's figure of a Common 

 Sandpiper, with the wrong name, appeared ? and the bird, hav- 

 ing thus been admitted as British, has not some over-anxious 

 bird-stuffer made American specimens British for profit's sake ? 

 When it is considersd how rarely correct information is obtained 

 in such matters, such a suggestion as I have made may not be 

 far from right. I have no object but a desire to have facts pro- 

 perly represented, neither to make species commoner nor rarer 

 than they really are. When I collected birds I would rarely 

 keep one unless I had the bird before it was skinned. 



Questions are sometimes asked, in consequence of the early 

 appearance of a Woodcock, if it was likely to have bred in the 

 neighbourhood. This year during the fall (October 10th) several 

 Woodcocks have been seen and shot on the coast you may say, 

 during their migration, as I believe they are sometimes watched 

 for and shot before actually alighting. But an opinion as to 

 where they were bred must, it seems to me, be the merest con- 

 jecture, as their breeding-grounds, when suitable localities occur, 

 probably reach from Western Europe to Eastern Asia. I do not 

 think that any Woodcocks bred in England are at all likely to 

 remain over winter, or even Snipes. Woodcocks are sometimes 

 met with in August ; these, probably, are stragglers, which have 

 bred, or been bred, in England or Scotland, and are then on their 

 journey southward. It is impossible to form an opinion of the 

 migrations of a particular species from one spot, or to form a ge- 

 neral idea from one species; but though each species has its 

 peculiarities, there is generally some similarity in the habits of 

 nearly-allied species. The Common Snipe appears in such places 

 as suit it during the breeding season, and for a short time only 

 after the young can fly well they are to be found in the vicinity 

 the old birds remaining until the wings are again perfect, which 

 is about the beginning of September. After this time the neigh- 



