142 EEMINISCEXCES OF A SPOETSMAX. 



having only a very small web between the middle and 

 interior toes. 



Woodcocks generally arrive in flights in this country 

 about the latter end of September or the beginning of 

 October, but in much greater numbers in November, 

 taking advantage of crossing the sea in a thick mist 

 during the day, or at night. 



It is the wind and not the moon which induces them 

 to commence their flight. If the wind continues fa- 

 vourable when they arrive on the coast, their stay is 

 very short, and they frequently continue their flight the 

 next night, but if in crossing the sea they experience 

 adverse winds, they generally remain a few days to rest 

 themselves. They then separate and disperse. It has 

 been observed by gamekeepers in Suffolk, that when the 

 redwings and fieldfares arrive on that coast they are cer- 

 tain harbingers of the woodcock's arrival. 



Frequently a considerable number of them are shot 

 in different parts of our coasts on their first arrival, and 

 before they have taken their various flights into the in- 

 terior of the country. One cannot help regretting their 

 being shot at this period, as they are then in poor con- 

 dition, and not the fat plump bird which they become 

 about Christmas, and it is curious that the taste of 

 the woodcock on its first arrival is not so highly 

 flavoured. 



A woodcock, entirely white, was shot in Sussex by the 

 gamekeeper of Sir John Lade ; another, with the wings 

 white, was shot by Mr. Goodyear, at Box, in Somerset- 

 shire.* 



* On the 31st October 18-17, Mr. George Gibbs of Bristol killed 

 t'wo woodcocks at one shot, both birds being on the wing. 



My son, a captain in the Canadian Kifle Corps, saw a white wood- 

 cock shot by a Frenchman in the neighbom-hood of Montreal. 



