298 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
him, followed by a rabble, and in a few minutes flushed 
him and bagged him"; and on January 5th, 1827: — 
" I this day started for Keyhaven. Just as I left the yard 
at Longparish I was called off after a particularly large 
woodcock, which, after several hours' search and a hard fag, 
I contrived to pocket the first shot. A great victory over 
the usual bad luck of Friday, and a magnificent bird to 
begin the new year with." 
Again, on November 26th, 1838, at Longparish, he 
" was suddenly called off after a woodcock ; away I went 
in the snow, got wet through, and at the same time per- 
spired with heat from the tremendous long chase 1 had 
with two woodcocks, which kept all my banditti on the 
run for nearly three hours, as they were so very wild ; but 
I bagged them both at last." 
In the Ninth Edition of his " Instructions to Young 
Sportsmen," dated 1844, he writes that since the cold 
easterly winds have prevailed in spring, it is now quite 
common for woodcocks to breed in England, and that he 
himself had seen a nest with four eggs " last summer " at 
Arnewood, which is on the border of the New Forest, near 
Sway. 
Supposing this occurrence to refer to the year 1 843, the 
date agrees closely with a note quoted by the author of 
the " Birds of Surrey," from the " Zoologist " of that year, 
to the effect that "there are nests annually in the Holt 
Forest," which is just within our eastern borders. 
In the meantime the birds were well known to nest 
occasionally in the Isle of Wight. Bury writes : "An 
old bird and four young were found by a keeper in a 
wood between Swainston and the sea, in April, 1834. 
In the same year a nest with eggs was found in Park- 
hurst Forest. A gentleman named Robinson, formerly 
