188 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Woods, which are five miles from Cockermouth, I knew of three nests. In 

 these woods a few pairs have bred for several years. The nests were, 

 without an exception, placed beneath low bushes on high dry ground. 

 During incubation the birds allowed me to approach closely to them. The 

 same year, in a wood within half-a-mile of Cockermouth, I also knew of a 

 nest which contained four eggs, but they were destroyed. — J. R. Denwood 

 (Kirkgate, Cockermouth). 



As two recent notes (pp. 112, 152) may give rise to the impression that 

 Woodcocks only nest sparingly in the Lake district, and that this is a 

 development of recent years, it may be worth while to quote the following 

 passage from the Rev. H. A. Macpherson's excellent * Fauna of Lakeland' : 

 " Those of us who have grown up within the last thirty years, during which 

 the Woodcock has been generally recognized as breeding abundantly both 

 in England generally and in the Lake district in particular, are hardly 

 competent to understand the interest which attached to the nesting of the 

 Woodcock early in our own century." Mr. Macpherson further states that 

 T. C. Heysham was aware of the fact that Woodcocks nested in the 

 district in 1831, and that the eggs were actually found near Carlisle in 

 1837. So commonly do Woodcocks nest with us in Furness, that, though 

 only at home at intervals, I have on two occasions seen a Woodcock 

 carrying one of her young ones as described in ' The Zoologist ' for 1879 

 (p. 433). In one of these instances the burden must have been heavy, 

 for, on hunting for the rest of the brood, I put up one of the young birds, 

 which was sufficiently fledged to be able to fly away. The whistling and 

 croaking of Woodcocks during their evening flight is almost as familiar to 

 us in Lancashire as the drumming of Snipe, or the call of the Curlew. 

 Richard Holme, a local gamekeeper and an excellent observer, informs me 

 that he has heard a peculiar sound at night, which he attributes to a Wood- 

 cock keeping her brood together. Can anyone confirm this belief? He 

 has frequently caught Woodcocks in steel traps set for rabbits. — Charles 

 F. Archibald (Rualand Hall, Ulverston). [As the setting of spring traps 

 for rabbits above ground is now prohibited by Section 6 of the Ground Game 

 Act, it is to be hoped that Woodoocks will in future escape this danger. — Ed.] 



The Hawfinch in Epping Forest. — The Hawfinch is exceptionally 

 abundant in Epping Forest this spring, and during a walk on the morning 

 of March 12th I came across three large and noisy bands, each flock num- 

 bering from forty to fifty birds. Epping Forest has always been the home 

 of this shy and interesting species, and the late Henry Doubleday was the 

 first to notify its permanent residence and nidification in this country, from 

 observations taken in this neighbourhood. During this same walk I iden- 

 tified no less than thirty-three species of birds, — a fair winter record for a 

 district only twelve miles from London. — A. D. Sapsworth (Higham 

 Lodge, Woodford Green). 



