EAST COAST OF ENGLAND. 61 



lantern. Heligoland, July 27th to 28th, great numbers, and to 

 Aug. 25th, daily. 



Strepsilas inteipres, Turnstone. — Farn, Aug. 13th, S.S.W., 

 hundreds in flocks all day. Spurn, Aug. 20th to Sept. 10th, 

 plentiful and increasing in numbers. 



Himantopus ostralegus, Oyster-catcher. — Spurn, Aug. 20th to 

 Sept. 10th, a few at intervals. 



Phalaropus fulicarius, Grey Phalarope. — Felixstowe, Sept. 

 9th, one shot. Longstone l.h., Nov. 2nd, one swimming in 

 pool near lighthouse. 



Scolopax rusticula, Woodcock. — Spring : Spurn, March 15th, 

 one. Farn Islands, 25th, one ; and again on April 28th. At 

 Twigmoor, Lincolnshire, young Woodcocks were hatched early 

 in May.* Autumn : The first is recorded at Coquet l.h. on 

 Sept. 1st ; the last at Hasboro' l.v., Jan. 20th, 1885, one 

 caught at night. The migration covered 142 days, the bulk 

 arriving between Oct. the 5th and Nov. 22nd. What is 

 usually termed by sportsmen the ' first flight ' came in on the 

 nights of the 5th and 6th of October, wind easterly ; another 

 flight between the 10th and 16th ; the ' great flight ' on the 

 night of the 28th, N.W. strong, with rain and colder weather ; 

 on the 29th, forty were shot in one locality on the Lincolnshire 

 coast; there was again a second "great flight" from the 11th 

 to 13th of November. Independent of these rushes, Woodcocks 

 have been dropping in either singly or by two's and three's 

 throughout the last three months in the year, and more or 

 less over the whole coast line. Altogether the migration has 

 been much more desultory and prolonged than any previously 

 recorded by us. Heligoland, Oct. 6th, some ; 12th, some ; 14th, 

 twenty shot; 15th, about thirty shot ; 19th, less ; 23rd, some; 

 25th, twenty to thirty shot ; 29th, forty to fifty on island — night, 

 about ten caught at lighthouse ; 30th, thirty to forty caught or 

 shot ; Nov. 1st, some ; 3rd, full moon, numbers flying about 

 island, two or three together ; 12th, ten or twelve shot ; 16th, 



- ;: Woodcocks bred in Great Britain invariably leave in the autumn in 

 August and September, and their place is taken some weeks later by others 

 coming from the north. Woodcocks found on the East Coast in March are 

 either such as have wintered in these islands and are now on their return 

 journe}-, or in some cases our English birds returning to their nesting 

 haunts. 



