THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Horsfield, and the latter that of S. rosenbergi, Schlegel. In the Obi Islands 
and possibly also in the Island of Ternate, both of which form part of the 
Molucca group, a different and very handsomely plumaged black and 
buff species, Neoscolopax rochussenii, occurs, characterized by having 
the legs bare above the tarsal joint, as in most snipes, not feathered as in 
Scolopax. Lastly, in North America a smaller species, Philohela minor^ is 
found, having the three long outer flight -feathers attenuated to a remark- 
able degree, and the underparts nearly uniform buff, without transverse 
bars of black. This species has never, so far as is known, been recorded 
as a straggler to Europe, though, as already stated, the common woodcock 
occasionally reaches the shores of North America. 
Distribution in the British Isles. — In the British Isles the woodcock is 
resident, breeding in many suitable localities, and appears to have 
done so in greatly increasing numbers during the last twenty or thirty 
years. In Scotland it now nests in most wooded districts, but more 
commonly in England and Ireland. At Alnwick Park, in Northumberland, 
and Netherby, in Cumberland, many broods are annually reared, also 
in the southern counties of England. In Ireland it breeds in every county, 
and in some of the large coverts the birds are reported to be more numer- 
ous during the summer-months than they are in winter. 
During the late autumn- and winter-months the numbers are vastly 
increased by hordes of migrants from Northern Europe, and at that season 
many of the islands off the north and west coasts of Scotland, and suitable 
parts of the mainland, especially in Ireland, abound with birds moving 
southwards in search of more open feeding -grounds. The annual “ flights ” 
usually begin about the middle of October, and the return migration 
northwards reaches our islands in the middle of March, but the movements 
of the woodcock, like those of other wading-birds, depend greatly on the 
mildness or severity of the seasons, and vary somewhat from year to year. 
There is a popular belief that our home-bred woodcocks leave this country 
early in autumn before the northern migrants arrive, but all the evidence 
seems to show that this is not really the case. In autumn the birds are 
going through their annual moult, and, though no longer to be met with 
in their usual haunts, are no doubt merely hiding themselves and lurking 
in out of the way places till such time as their flight -feathers have been 
renewed. This is proved by the fact that many of the birds marked in 
spring by placing metal rings on their legs have been shot in the same 
county in autumn. It is very unlikely that the woodcock is exceptional 
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