[ 2I 7 ] 



To thefe reafons for woodcocks not being obferved, it may be 

 added, that the bird is commonly mute, and confequently feldom 

 difcovers itfelf by its call. 



If it be ftill contended, that the neft or young muft fometimes 

 be ftumbled upon, though in the centre of extenfive woods, or 

 large bogs, the fifkin (or aberdavine n ) is a much more extraor- 

 dinary inftance of concealing its neft and young. 



The plumage of this bird is rather bright than otherwife, and 

 the fong, though not very pleafing, yet is very audible, both 

 which circumftances fhould difcover it at all times ; yet ° Kramer 

 informs us, that, though immenfe numbers breed annually on 

 the banks of the Danube, no one ever obferved the neft. 



This bird is rather uncommon in England ; fo that if I afk 

 when the neft was ever found within the verge of the ill and, it 

 may be confidered as rather an unfair challenge. 



There is another bird, however, called a redpoll p, which is 

 taken in numbers during the Michaelmas and March flights by 

 the London bird-catchers, whofe neft, I believe, hath feldom 

 been feen in the lbuthern parts of England, though I have 

 feen them in pairs during the fummer, both in the mountainous 

 parts of Wales and highlands of Scotland q . 



But I mail now mention another proof that woodcocks breed iu 

 England. 



The Reverend Mr. White of Selborn, who is not only a well- 

 read naturalift, but an active fportfman, informs me, that he 



n Brit. Zool, p. 309. 



0 Elenchus Animalium per Auftriam, p. 261. Viennse, 1756. 

 p Brit. Zool, p. 312. 



1 This elegant little bird is very common in Hudfon's Bay, where it 

 feeds chiefly on the birch trees ; which being more common in the nor- 

 thern than fouthern parts of Great Britain, may account for the bird's 

 being more often feen northward, 



Ff hath 



