Family SCOLOPACIDAE. 

 Scolopax rusticola L. — Woodcock. 



(Plate 144, fig. a-c). 

 (Siiouckaert: Avifauna Neerlandica, p. 98, No. 231 1. 



Colour of surface of shell: 



Colour of spots: 



Average dimensions: 



Average weight of shell: 



Texture of shell: 



Shape: 



Nest and its site: 



Number of eggs: 

 Breeding season: 

 Duration of incubation: 



ranges from cream-colour and greyish white 

 to light yellowish brown; when light pene- 

 trates through the shell it shows through 

 reddish yellow, in which respect it deviates 

 from the eggshells of the other Scolopa- 

 cidae, all of which, like those of the Chara- 

 driidac, show through pale greenish when 

 light penetrates through them. 



dark reddish or yellowish brown; under- 

 lying spots show through grey or purplish. 



44.2 :< 33.4 millimetres. 



1.4 gram. 



very fine and smooth. 



mostly more oval than pyriform. 



on the ground, in a little hollow lined with 

 dry vegetable material. 



4. 



March '). April May. 

 about 3 weeks. 



1) Dr. R. Baron Snouckaert van Schauburg was so kind as to inform me 

 that he had this year (1912) received a report that in North Brabant on April 

 8th a nest was found containing 3 eggs, of which two were already chip- 

 ping, on the point consequently of being hatched. 



In Gelderland, in 1907, the species was found brooding in the middle of 

 March. (See: Veisl. en Med. d. Ned. Orn. Ver. No. 5 p. 25). 



