42 WOODCOCK SNIPE. Class II. 



accidentally during the summer. In Case-wood, 

 about two miles from Tunbindge, a few breed al- 

 most annually ; the young having been shot there 

 the beginning of ^w^z<5/^, and were as healthy and 

 vigorous as they are with us in the winter, but 

 not so well tasted : a female with egg was shot in 

 that neighborhood in April i the egg was the size 

 of that of a pigeon. They are remarkably tame 

 during incubation; a person who discovered 

 one on its nest, has often stood over, and even 

 stroaked it; notwithstanding which it hatched 

 the young, and in due time disappeared with 

 them. 



"Woodcocks first appear in Scotland on the 

 eastern coasts, and make their progress from 

 East to West. They do not arrive in Bread- 

 albajie, a central part of the kingdom, till the 

 beginning or middle of November ; nor on the 

 coasts of Nether Lorn, or of Ross-shire, till 

 December or January: they are very rare in 

 the more remote Hebrides, or in the Orknies ; 

 a few stragglers now and then arrive there.^ 

 They are equally scarce in Cathness. I do not 

 recollect that any have been discovered to have 

 bred in North Britain. 



Their autumnal and vernal appearances on 

 the coast of Suffolk have been most accurately 

 marked by Sir John Cullum, Bar\ who fa- 



