OF NATURAL HISTORY. 18 9 



rope. From thefe countries they retire as foon as the-froft com- 

 mences, which, obliges them to migrate into milder climates, 

 where the foil is open, and more adapted to their mode of 

 feeding ; for they live ©n worms, which they fearch for with 

 their long bills in loft and moift grounds in the midil: of woods. 

 Wood-cocks, taking the advantage of the night, or of foggy 

 weather, arrive here in flocks : But they foon feparate •, and, 

 before returning to their fummer quarters, they pair. They 

 fly and feed during the night. They begin their flight in 

 the evening, and return to their retreats in the glades when 

 day commences. They depart from Britain about the end of 

 February or the beginning of March. Some of them, how- 

 ever, like the ftraggling fwallows, have been known to breed, 

 and to remain here during the whole year*. It is likewife 

 known that wook-cocks migrate from France, Germany, and 

 Italy, and that they make choice of cold northern climates 

 for their fummer refidence. About the end of October they 

 vifit Burgundy, but remain there four or five weeks only ; 

 becaufe it is a dry country, and, on the firfl frofb, they are 

 obliged to retire for want of fuflenance. In tlie winter, 

 they are found as far fouth as Smyrna, Aleppof, and Barba- 

 ryj. They are even very common in Japan 1|. 



6. The fnipe. Snipes are enrolled as birds of palTare by 

 Mr. White, though he acknowledges that fome of them con- 

 ftantly breed in England. « In winter/ Mr. Pennant re- 

 marks, < fnipes are very frequent in all our marlhy and 



* wet grounds, where they lie concealed in the rullies, &c. In 

 ' the fummer, they difperfe to different parts, and are found 

 ' in the midft of our higheft mountains, as well as our lew 



* moors. Their neft is made of dried gr:ifs. They lay four 



* eggs of a dirty olive colour, marked with dufl-cy fnots. 



* Pennant's Britifh Zoology, vol. 2 page 349. 8vo. 



f Rufil'l's Hiftory of Aleppo, page 64. j: Shaw's Travels, page 253. 



II Kaempfcr'a Kift, Japan, vol, 1, page 129. 



