342 MIGRATION OF WOODCOCKS. 



a new nest, at the highest part of the hedge, where he saw 

 all the four eggs deposited in safety, and where they were 

 afterwards hatched. He could not, however, ascertain how 

 the parent birds carried these eggs. 



It remains to make a few remarks on the migration of 

 Woodcocks, which is attended with more mystery than that 

 of most other birds. We shall endeavour briefly to state the 

 chief points for consideration. First, we have every reason 

 to believe that the greater proportion, on leaving this country 

 in March, retire to the wild solitudes of Norway or Sweden. 

 Secondly, that on re-appearing in England, in October, they 

 are, for the most part, poor and weak. Thirdly, that instead 

 of being first seen on the eastern coasts, they are, for the 

 most part, known to land on the western shores of Ireland, 

 and, almost in flocks, on the Scilly Islands, twenty miles to 

 the westward of the Land's-End, Cornwall, quite exhausted. 



Now, on the supposition that the major part are bred in 

 Norway and Sweden, if we examine a map, it will be evident 

 that they ought naturally to alight on the eastern shores, as 

 the nearest points. Their weak, lean, and exhausted state, 

 however, supposing it to arise from fatigue, implies a far 

 longer and more continued flight than that from Norway, 

 which, even supposing that they prefer, for some unknown 

 cause, the western to the eastern shores of our island for 

 their first appearance, is quite a trifling affair for most birds ; 

 the distance, in a straight line, from the nearest point of 

 Norway to the Land's-End being not more than seven or 

 eight hours' journey for a bird whose rapidity of flight, when 

 once fairly on the wing, is exceeded by few, if any, of the 

 feathered race. It is obvious that so short a space of time 

 is by no means sufficient to occasion fatigue, and still less, 

 to lower the bodily condition, so as to affect the health of the 

 bird. 



But some may be ready to say, How know we that their 

 flight is short ? If they land on the west coast, may they not 

 have crossed the wide Atlantic, and taken their departure 

 from America ? The answer is decisive of the contrary, the 

 American Woodcock being entirely different from the British 



