afterwards he adds “ nidificat in paludibus alpinis : ova ponit 3 - - - 5,”
It does not appear from Kramer that woodcocks breed at all fit
Aujiria: but he fays “ Avis hac feptentrionalium provinciarum afiivo
“ tempore incola eft; ubi plerumque- nidificat. Appropinquante hyeme
“ auftraliores provincias petit: hinc circa plenilunium menfis Oblobrisplerum-
“ que Auftriam tranfmigrat. 1'itnc rurfus circa plenilunium potijjimum menfis
“ Martii per Auftriam matrimonio jun&a ad feptentrionales provincias
“ redit.” For the whole paflfage (which I have abridged) fee
Elenchus, &c. p. 351. This feems to be a full proof of the migration
of woodcocks; though little is proved concerning the place of
breeding.
P. S. There fell in the county of Rutland, in three weeks of
this prefent very-wet weather, feven inches and an half of rain,
which is more than has fallen in any three weeks for thefe thirty years
paft in that part of the world. A mean quantity in that county
for one year is twenty inches and an half
L E T T E R IX.
TO THE SAME.
B E A R S I R , Fyfield, near A ndover, Feb. js, 177»,
Y o u are, I know, no great friend to migration ; and the well at-
tefted accounts from various parts of the kingdom feem to juftify
you in your fufpicions, that at leaft many of the fwallow kind do
not
not leave us in the winter, but lay themfelves up like infedts and
bats, in a torpid date, and dumber away the more uncomfortable
months till the return of the fun and fine weather awakens them.
But then we muft not, I think, deny migration in general; be-
caufe migration certainly does fubfift in fome places, as my brother
in Andalufta has fully informed me. O f the motions of thefe birds
he has ocular demonftration, for many weeks together, both fpring
and fall: during which periods myriads of the fwallow kind traverfe
the Straits from north to fouth, and from fouth to north, according
to the feafon. And thefe vail migrations confift: not only of hirundines
but of bee-birds, hoopoes, oro pendolos, or golden thrujhes, &c. &c. and
alfo of many of our foft-billed ftummer birds of pajfage; and moreover
of birds which never leave us, fuch as all the various forts of hawks
and kites. Old Belon, two hundred years ago, gives a curious
account of the incredible armies of hawks and kites which he faw
in the fpring-time traverfing the Thracian Bofphtmus from Afta to
Europe. Befides the above mentioned, he remarks that the procef-
fion is fwelled by whole troops of eagles and vultures.
Now it is no wonder that birds refiding in Africa ffiould retreat
before the fun as it advances, and retire to milder regions, and
efpecially birds of prey, whofe blood being heated with hot animal
food, are more impatient of a fultry climate: but then I cannot
help wondering why kites and hawks, and fuch hardy birds as are
known to defy all the feverity of England, and even of Sweden and all
north Europe, Ihould want to migrate from the fouth of Europe, and
be diffatisfied with the winters of Andalufta.
It does not appear to me that much Ilrefs may be laid on the
difficulty and hazard that birds mull run in their migrations, by rea-
fon of vail oceans, crofs winds, &c.; becaufe, if we refieft, a bird
may travel from England to the equator without launching out and
T 2 expoling