SCOLOPAX EUSTICULA. 809 



occurrences, likewise records the shooting of one by Mr. J. C. Davis at Thatone. From the Malay peninsula 

 it has not been recorded, so that in this direction Tenasserim is its southernmost limit. 



In China it is, according to Swinhoe, found throughout the country in winter ; and I notice that he 

 records it from Cheefoo as late as the 30th April. He does not appear to have noticed it at Hainan or 

 Formosa. Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer say that it is common at Tokio and South Japan in winter, and that 

 it migi'ates north to Yezo in the spring. Mr. Whitely procured it at Hakodadi. 



The majority of the birds found in India in the cold season are no doubt arrivals from northern climes, 

 as it can only breed in limited numbers in the Himalayas. We find that Severtzoff remarks upon it as a bird 

 of passage only in Turkestan ; but at Kashgar Stoliczka noticed it in November and December, after which 

 latter month it disappeared. In Persia it is a winter visitant, the rose-gardens there being, according 

 to Major St. John, its favourite haunt. Mr. Blanford likewise says it is common in gardens in that country. 

 In Palestine Canon Tristram met with it ; and in Asia Minor Mr. Danford says it is generally distributed in 

 the mountains in the winter. 



Mr. Dresser thus sketches out its distribution in Northern and Central Asia : — " In Siberia it is known 

 as a summer visitant ■ and Dr. Dybowski states that it breeds in the Baikal Mountains, and remains until 

 September. Von Middendorff met with it in the Stanowoi Mountains nearly to the summit, and observed 

 it passing there between the 2nd May and 1st of June. Von Schrenck does not record it ; but Dr. G. Radde 

 says that after sunset he frequently saw it passing in the woods between the Bystraja brooks and the water- 

 shed of the streams on the south-east corner of Lake Baikal." Col. Prjevalsky observed it in the Muni-ul 

 mountains in Mongolia, and says that it breeds in the Ussuri country. In the valley of the Yenesay 

 Mr. Seebohm did not meet with it, owing probably to the country not being suited to its habits, for both 

 to the east and west of that region it ranges far to the north. 



It is a winter resident in the Mediterranean and in the south of Europe generally, but its numbers, as is 

 the case in Great Britain, vary according to the weather which prevails each season. The Albanian coast is 

 proverbial for the excellent Woodcock-shooting which it affords ; and in Thessaly and Macedonia, Messrs. Elwes 

 and Buckley write that very good sport may be had in some seasons. Mr. A. B. Brooke, writing in ' The 

 Ibis,' 1873, remarks that it was more numerous in Sardinia formerly than at that time. In Corsica 

 Mr. Bygrave Wharton did not find it common in 1875 on the west coast ; but he remarks that it was said to 

 be more abundant on the eastern side. Mr. Saunders speaks of it as common in the south of Spain ; and 

 writing of the Gibraltar district Col. Irby remarks as follows : — " Uncertain, both in numbers and as to time 

 of arrival near Gibraltar, in some seasons Woodcocks are tolerably plentiful, as in 1873 ; in others, as in the 

 winter of 1871-72, they are very scarce." He further observes : — "My earliest note of the arrival of a 

 Woodcock about Gibraltar was on the 17th October, but very few arrive until the middle of November. The 

 latest noticed was on the 8th of March ; but I have seen them in Seville market on the 22nd of that month. " 



Von Heuglin gives the limit of its normal breeding-grounds between 42° north lat. and the polar circle 

 in Europe. In Transylvania they are, write Messrs. Danford and Harvie Brown, generally common, arriving 

 from the south in March and April, and after staying a short time in the low country they proceed into 

 the mountains to breed. As is well known to many people in England, the Woodcock breeds in nearly every 

 county, a favourite resort in the extreme south being the New Forest. In Scotland it is much more common, 

 and in the nesting-season numbers breed in Rosshire and Sutherlandshire, Mr. More citing Perthshire as 

 the district down to which it nests regularly. It is a question what becomes of the Woodcocks bred in 

 England in the spring, as they are not seen in the summer and early autumn. The natural inference would 

 be that, as it is a migrant, nesting, as a rule, in countries south of where it is bred, our English birds must 

 migrate to southern parts after the young are flown. I am not aware, however, that any summer birds are 

 ever seen on passage in any part of Western Europe ; and we must either believe that they are all killed off 

 in England or move northwards at night towards Norway and Sweden, to which country they could easily 

 escape without being noticed. In Scandinavia it is very abundant during the breeding-season, and very 

 many breed in Finland. It has been observed as far north as Tromso, and is known to have strayed across 

 to the Faroe Islands. 



Lastly, looking to Africa, we find Favier, as quoted by Col. Irby, stating that the Woodcock is not 

 abundant round Tangier, arriving during November and departing in March. Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake, however, 



