Ciass Il. WOODCOCK SNIPE. 
those countries the beginning of winter, as soon 
as the frosts commence, which force them into 
milder climates, where the ground is open, and 
adapted to their manner of feeding. The time 
of their appearance and disappearance in Swe- 
den, coincides most exactly with that of their 
arrival in, and their retreat from, Great Bri- 
tain.* ‘They live on worms and insects, which 
they search for with their long bills in soft 
ground and among the mosses in moist woods. 
Woodcocks generally arrive here in flocks, tak- 
ing advantage of the night, or a mist: they soon 
separate ; but before they return to their native 
haunts, pair. They feed and fly by night; be- 
ginning their flight in the evening, and return — 
the same way, or through the same glades to 
their day retreat. They leave England the lat- 
ter end of February, or beginning of AZarch ; 
not but they have been Enown to continue here 
* M. de Geers and Dr. Wallerius’s letters to myself. M. de 
Geer expresses himself thus: La Becasse (Scolopax rusticola) 
part d'ici vers Vautomne, Je ne scais pas au juste dans quel mois. 
On la trouve ici assez en abondance dans leté. Elle a coutume 
au soleil couchant de fuire sa volée en cercle ou. toujours en rond 
en lair revenant toujours dans le meme endroit a plusieurs reprises, 
et c'est alors qu'on peut la tirer a coup de fusil. En hiver on ne 
voit aucune, elles purtent alors toutes. 
M. Wallerius gave me this account of them. Scolopaces rusti- 
cole penes nos nidificant; sed autumnal tempore abeunt, ac ver- 
nali redeunt. 
41 
