GREY PHALAROPE— WOODCOCK. 295 
In October of the year last mentioned they appear 
to have been driven to our shores by a heavy gale. 
Mr. H. R. Leach saw about a hundred passing along the 
south of the Island towards the west, in parties of fifteen 
or twenty/ and Mr. Coles, of Milton, met with large 
numbers at Keyhaven, at the time when he obtained his 
Sabine's gull, and observed that they disappeared when 
the wind changed to the east. 
The Island naturalists mention the bird as a frequent 
visitor during the autumn months. One was shot at 
Avington Park on September 15th, 18962; and another 
was picked up in the road at Whitchurch a year or two 
later. (Hall.) 
Genus — Scolopax. 
228. Scolopax rusticula. Woodcook. 
A resident, somewhat thinly distributed throughout 
the county, including the Isle of Wight, and very largely 
reinforced in winter. 
This bird was formerly reckoned by Gilbert White and 
others among the winter visitors, arriving in October, but 
the above description seems at the present time to be a 
more accurate one. 
White remarks in his Journal on April 3rd, 1789, that 
" some woodcocks are now found in Hartley Wood ; as 
soon as the weather grows a little warm, they will pair and 
leave us." 
^ " Field." October, 1891. 
= Smith. "Zoologist." December, 1896. 
