MIGRATING BIRDS. 1G3 



just over the surface of the land and water, direct 

 their course to the opposite continent at the 

 narrowest passage they can find. They usually 

 slope across the bay to the south-west, and so 

 pass over opposite to Tangier, which, it seems, is 

 the narrowest space. 



In former letters we have considered whether 

 it was probable that woodcocks in moonshiny 

 nights cross the German Ocean from Scandinavia. 

 As a proof that birds of less speed 'may pass that 

 sea, considerable as it is, I shall relate the follow- 

 ing incident, which, though mentioned to have 

 happened so many years ago, was strictly matter 

 of fact : As some people were shooting in the 

 parish of Trotten, in the county of Sussex, they 

 killed a duck in that dreadful winter, 1708-9, 

 with a silver collar about its neck 1 , on which 

 were engraven the arms of the King of Denmark. 

 This anecdote the rector of Trotten at that time 

 has often told to a near relation of mine ; and, to 

 the best of my remembrance, the collar was in 

 the possession of the rector. 



At present I do not know any body near the 

 sea- side that will take the trouble to remark at 

 what time of the moon woodcocks first come : if 

 I lived near the sea myself, I would soon tell you 

 more of the matter. One thing I used to observe 

 when I was a sportsman, that there were times 

 in which woodcocks were so sluggish and sleepy, 

 that they would drop again when flushed just 

 before the spaniels, nay, just at the muzzle of a 

 gun that had been fired at them : whether this 

 strange laziness was the effect of a recent fatiguing 

 journey, I shall not presume to say. 



Nightingales not only never reach Northum- 



1 I have read a like anecdote of a swan. 

 M 2 



