LETTERS ON ORNITHOLOGY. 69 



they eat, there may be less of it adrift at sea — for the geese 

 used sometimes to remain all the winter without coming within 

 sight of land. 



I fear you will be tired of so much about the Brent Geese ; 

 but I will make one more remark about them. They never seem 

 to sleep ; look at them when you will with a telescope, all day 

 they are wide awake, and all night they seem equally busy, 

 whether you find them near the land or go off to sea after them 

 on a calm night. When far off at sea you may hear their noise 

 the whole night, shifting its bearing with the tide. I never saw, 

 or heard of anyone seeing, a Brent Goose with its head on its 

 back as if asleep. Ducks and Wigeon may often be seen in this 

 position. 



We have had hardly any Wigeon outside last winter, though 

 many have been taken in decoys. Were it not for these, giving 

 a few a quiet place to induce them to stay and act at night as 

 call-birds to those passing, we should hardly see any at all. 



I have not heard lately from Mr. ; his decoy did not do 



so well as usual in the first part of the season. Many years ago 

 the Wigeons' chief pond was one situated about a mile and a 

 half to the south of this; indeed Wigeon were almost exclu- 

 sively caught in the south decoy, the north one only holding 

 some teal and ducks. Then some twelve or fourteen years ago 

 the latter was improved, and the Wigeon took to it, hardly 

 anything but Teal and a few Ducks frequenting the former 

 wigeon-pond. This last season they have again taken chiefly 

 to the south decoy again, where they have done well. The only 

 explanation I could hear was that cattle and people were near 

 the north pond when the Wigeon began to come. I had accounts 

 of great numbers of Jack Snipe about Oct. 1st from Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, and Essex. Another flight came later. 



Was there any great flight of Woodcock last autumn on the 

 Lincolnshire coast ? I have heard of very few this way. 



The almost complete absence of shore birds has been 

 remarkable; they seem to come here less and less. In the 

 severe winter of 1880-81 we had very few. I cannot account 

 for their falling off. From the nature of the ground they frequent, 

 shooting troubles them little; to some extent the change of 

 ground, which does away with the food of wildfowl, may — and 

 most likely does — diminish their food. Perhaps they are 

 changing their time of migration. 



