Birds. 7489 



Yarrell. " Colonel Montagu never could have seen the eggs of the 

 avocet ; they are as large as those of the peewit." — Mi'. Bond. 



Blacktailed Godwit, Limosa melanura. 



Situation. A few pairs of this bird breed in the fenny districts of 

 Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, making their nest in thick 

 herbage, and always near water. 



Materials. " The nest is composed of dry grass and other vege- 

 tables, and is concealed among coarse herbage of the swamps and low 

 meadows." — Mr. Yarrell. 



Eggs, 4. Deep olive-green colour, faintly blotched with spots of a 

 darker shade. 



Ruff. Machetes pugnax. 



Situation. " The nest is usually formed upon a lump in moist 

 swampy places, surrounded by coarse grass." — Col. Montagu. 



Materials. None brought to the spot, the coarse grass growing 

 there being the only substance used. 



Eggs, 4. " The eggs are, as usual with its congeners, four in num- 

 ber ; these are so nearly similar to those of the snipe and redshank, 

 both of which breed in the same wet places, and make similar nests, 

 that some experience is required to discriminate them : they are, 

 however, superior in size to the former, and are known from the latter 

 by the ground being of a greenish hue instead of rufous-white ; but 

 individuals assimilate so nearly to each other as not to be distin- 

 guished, especially as the dusky and brown spots and blotches are 

 similar." — Col. Montagu. 



Woodcock, Scolopax Rusticola. 



Situation. In underwood at the foot of a tree : the bird generally 

 scrapes out a slight hole in the ground, and without much attempt at 

 concealment. 



Materials. Dead leaves and dried fronds of the common brake 

 (Eupteris aquilina). 



Eggs, 4. Yellow-white, blotched with pale chestnut-brown. 



The woodcock frequently but not habitually nests in this country : 

 this occurrence seems accidental and exceptional : the eggs are very 

 rarely found, the young more frequently : the young ones run as soon 

 as hatched, and the old birds are most assiduous in caring for them, 

 often transporting them from place to place with their feet. For 

 instances of the woodcock breeding in England almost every volume 

 of the 'Zoologist' may be consulted. 



Common Snipe, Scolopax Gallinago. 



Situation. On the ground ou the elevated moors of the North of 

 VOL. XIX. 2 C 



