17 



quarter of the globe. It oven seems doubtful whether the de- 

 struction of some of the larger species of migratory Hawks in 

 England really lessens their numbers. Many of them are only 

 migrants here, merely as stragglers, periodically passing from 

 the vast tracts of ground where they spend the summer unmo- 

 lested, and probably each species never was commoner in England 

 than at the present time for instance, the Goshawk, Rough- 

 legged Buzzard, Honey Buzzard, the Jer-falcon, the Osprey, and 

 others ; and I even think that if these birds were not interfered 

 with when they do visit us, no perceptible amount of injury 

 would ensue, as they are all wanderers, and seldom tarry long 

 at one place. C. M. A. 



THE WOODCOCK. 

 Reprinted from " The Field" Newspaper, Dec. 27th, 1862. 



THE number of Woodcocks in many places this season will per- 

 haps satisfy some persons that there is no probability or possibi- 

 lity of the species being exterminated. It seems impossible to 

 account for their migrations, but it appears to be now ascertained 

 that, like the whole of the tribe of Sandpipers and Plovers, 

 they leave the places where they have been bred soon after they 

 are well able to fly. Why the majority of those which come in 

 autumn leave certain woods soon after their arrival, when, per- 

 haps, during the whole winter a few may be found, and those 

 probably very fat, is difficult to say : it seems to show that it is 

 not want of food that takes them away. The only way to make 

 out whether there are different races of Woodcocks would be to 

 visit their breeding places during summer, and ascertain what 

 the pairs of birds are like which are breeding together. It may 

 happen that the nights are sometimes composed of birds of one 

 sex only, and that would account for large birds, probably all 

 females, being sometimes found at one time, and smaller birds, 

 probably all males, being found at another time. I have given 

 very great attention to the changes in the plumage of waders, 

 and consider that after the general autumnal moult, the year 



