WOODCOCKS, 323 



ootiinion. Tliey are equally shy with the Curlews, and when alarmed 

 give a kind of scream, and immediately skim off along the surface 

 of the water in an undulating flight, making a series of semicircles as 

 they alternately approach and recede from the shore. When this 

 alarm has subsided, they alight on a rock at some distance from the 

 place they formerly occupied, and then descend to the shore, to re- 

 sun:e their interrupted meal. They are found in great numbers on 

 the coasts of Devon and Am wall. 



woorcocKS. 



In this tribe of birds, the bill is nearly similar with tliat of the 

 Snip.^, but more robust, with the extremity attenuated, and not de- 

 pressed ; the under mandible is also deeply grooved beneath. The 

 eyes are ])laced very far back in the head, which last is rather quadrate 

 than round. Legs robust, short, and wholly feathered to the knees, 

 tarsus shorter than the middle toe ; the toes cleft from the very base, 

 and the hind nail truncated, and not projecting over the toe. The first 

 or fourth primary longest. 



The female larger, and the young similar with the adult. The 

 plumage undergoes no change with the moult; its general colors are 

 a mixture, often intimate, of black, rufous and cinerous. 



These are solitary birds, or only associating by pairs or families in 

 the breeding season. They dwell habitually in forests both in the 

 plains and mountains, and frequent shady swamps and thickets; but 

 21 



