SCOLOPAX EUSTICULA. 
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occurrences, likewise records the shooting of one by Mr. J. C. Davis at Thatone. From the Malay peninsula 
it has not been recorded, so that in this direction Tenasserim is its southernmost limit. 
In China it is, according to Swinhoe, found throughout the country in winter ; and I notice that he 
records it from Cheefoo as late as the 30th April. He does not appear to have noticed it at Hainan or 
Formosa. Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer say that it is common at Tokio and South J apan in winter, and that 
it migrates north to Yezo in the spring. Mr. Whitely procured it at Hakodadi. 
The majority of the birds found in India in the cold season are no doubt arrivals from northern climes, 
as it can only breed in limited numbers in the Himalayas, Me find that Severtzofi rcmaiks upon it as a bird 
of passage only in Turkestan ; but at Kashgar Stoliczka noticed it in November and December, after which 
latter month it disappeared. In Persia it is a winter visitant, the rose-gardens there being, according 
to Major St. John, its favourite haunt. Mr. Blauford likewise says it is common in gardens in that country. 
In Palestine Canon Tristram met with it; and in Asia Minor Mr. Danford says it is generally distributed in 
the mountains in the winter. 
Mr. Dresser thus sketches out its distribution in Northern and Central Asia : — “ In Siberia it is known 
as a summer visitant ; and Dr. Dybowski states that it breeds in the Baikal Mountains, and remains until 
September. Yon Middendorff met with it in the Stanowoi Mountains nearly to the summit, and observed 
it passing there between the 2nd May and 1st of June. Von Schrenck does not record it ; but Dr. G. Radde 
says that after sunset he frequently saw it passing in the woods between the Bystraja brooks and the water- 
shed of the streams on the south-east corner of Lake Baikal.' 1 '’ Col. Prjevalsky observed it in the Muni-ul 
mountains in Mongolia, and says that it breeds in the Ussuri country. In the valley of the Yenesay 
Mr. Seebohm did not meet with it, owing probably to the country not being suited to its habits, for both 
to the east and west of that region it ranges far to the north. 
It is a winter resident in the Mediterranean and in the south of Europe generally, but its numbers, as is 
the case in Great Britain, vary according to the weather which prevails each season. The Albanian coast is 
proverbial for the excellent Woodcock-shooting which it affords ; and in Thessaly and Macedonia, Messrs. Elwcs 
and Buckley write that very good sport may be had in some seasons. Mr. A. B. Brooke, writing in ‘ The 
Ibis/ 1873, remarks that it was more numerous in Sardinia formerly than at that time. In Corsica 
Mr. Bvgrave Wharton did not find it common in 1875 on the west coast ; but he remarks that it was said to 
be more abundant on the eastern side. Mr. Saunders speaks of it as common in the south of Spain ; and 
writing of the Gibraltar district Col. Irby remarks as follows : — “ Uncertain, both in numbers and as to time 
of arrival near Gibraltar, in some seasons Woodcocks are tolerably plentiful, as in 1873 ; in others, as in the 
winter of 1871-72, they are very scarce.” He further observes : — “My earliest note of the arrival of a 
Woodcock about Gibraltar was on the 17th October, but very few arrive until the middle of November. The 
latest noticed was ou the 8th of March j but I have seen them in Seville market on the 22nd of that month.” 
Yon Heuglin gives the limit of its normal breeding-grounds between 42° north lat. and the polar circle 
in Europe. In Transylvania they are, write Messrs. Danford and Harvie Brown, generally common, arriving 
from the south in March and April, and after staying a short time in the low country they proceed into 
the mountains to breed. As is well known to many people in England, the Woodcock breeds in nearly every 
county, a favourite resort in the extreme south being the New Forest. In Scotland it is much more common, 
and in the nesting-season numbers breed in Rosshire and Sutherlandshire, Mr. More citing Perthshire as 
the district down to which it nests regularly. It is a question what becomes of the Woodcocks bred in 
England in the spring, as they are not seen in the summer and early autumn. The natural inference would 
be that, as it is a migrant, nesting, as a rule, in countries south of where it is bred, our English birds must 
migrate to southern parts after the young are flown. I am not aware, however, that any summer birds are 
ever seen on passage in any part of Western Europe ; and we must either believe that they are all killed off 
in England or move northwards at night towards Norway and Sweden, to which country they could easily 
escape without being noticed. In Scandinavia it is very abundant during the breeding-season, and very 
many breed in Finland. It has been observed as far north as Tromso, and is known to have strayed across 
to the Faroe Islands. 
Lastly, looking to Africa, we find Favier, as quoted by Col. Irby, stating that the Woodcock is not 
abundant round Tangier, arriving during November and departing in March. Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake, however. 
