. An illustrated manual of British birds. Birds. CHARADRIID^. 569. THE WOODCOCK. Sc6lopax RusxfcuLA, Linnseus. The annual ' flights' of this well-known species usually begin in October, and a return migration northwards is noticed early in March, when the birds which intend to breed in our islands betake themselves to suitable coverts. Of late years, owing to the increase of plantations in the vicinity of feeding-grounds, the number of the individuals which remain has been greatly augmented; and nests have been found in most parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, except on some of the
. An illustrated manual of British birds. Birds. CHARADRIID^. 569. THE WOODCOCK. Sc6lopax RusxfcuLA, Linnseus. The annual ' flights' of this well-known species usually begin in October, and a return migration northwards is noticed early in March, when the birds which intend to breed in our islands betake themselves to suitable coverts. Of late years, owing to the increase of plantations in the vicinity of feeding-grounds, the number of the individuals which remain has been greatly augmented; and nests have been found in most parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, except on some of the barest islands. Early in autumn the home-bred birds disappear from their haunts, few, if any, being seen until the October influx, and they are popularly supposed to have left the country ; but their disappearance is partially attribut- able to self-effacement during the moult, for many birds which had been captured and marked with metal rings in the spring in Northumberland, have been shot in the same county in autumn. Migration takes place by night, when casualties against the lanterns of lighthouses and vessels are not infrequent. Birds have often been known to alight when the wind was from a quarter directly opposed to the direction whence they might be expected; but this was probably due to the existence of a different current of air in the more elevated strata through which they had been Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Saunders, Howard, 1835-1907. London, Gurney and Jackson
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds
