138 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



remained of them) did not depart as usual, but were 

 seen lingering about till the beginning of June. 



The best authority that we can have for the nidification 

 of the birds above-mentioned in any district, is the 

 testimony of faunists that have written professedly the 

 natural history of particular countries. Now, as to the 

 fieldfare, Linnaeus, in his Fauna Suecica, says of it that 

 " maximis in arboribus nidificat " ; and of the redwing 

 he says, in the same place, that " nidificat in mediis 

 arbusculis, sive sepibus : ova sex cxruleo-viridia maculis 

 nigris variis." Hence we may be assured that field- 

 fares and redwings breed in Sweden. Scopoli says, 

 in his Annus Primus, of the woodcock, that " nupia 

 ad nos venit circa sequinoctium vernale " : meaning in 

 Tyrol, of which he is a native. And afterwards he adds 

 " nidificat in paludibus alpinis : ova ponit, 3 — 5." It 

 does not appear from Kramer that woodcocks breed at 

 all in Austria : but he says " Avis hxc septentrionalium 

 provinciarum sestivo tempore incola est ; ubi plerumque 

 nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme australiores provincias 

 petit : hinc circa plenilunium mensis Octobris plerumque 

 Austriam transmigrat. Tunc rursus circa plenilunium 

 potissimum mensis Martii per Austriam matrimonio 

 juncta ad septentrionales provincias redit." For the 

 whole passage (which I have abridged) see Elenchus,. 

 etc., p. 35L This seems to be a full proof of the 

 migration of woodcocks ; though little is proved con- 

 cerning the place of breeding. 



P.S. There fell in the county of Rutland, in three 

 weeks of this present very wet weather, seven inches and 

 an half of rain, which is more than has fallen in any 

 three weeks for these thirty years past in that part of the 

 world. A mean quantity in that county for one year is. 

 twenty inches and an half. 



