COMMON WOODCOCK. 387 



supply useful particulars. They who separate the Wood- 

 cock generically from the Snipes do well ; for it has a more 

 bulky form, with shorter limbs, a larger and less com- 

 pressed head. 



The bill is about half as long as the head, slender, 

 straight, tapering and compressed for half its length, then 

 sub-cylindrical or slightly depressed, scarcely at all enlarged 

 toward the end, scrobiculate in its terminal half, but incon- 

 spicuously; upper mandible with the nasal grooves filled 

 with a membrane at the base, extending to near the end ; 

 the ridge, at first narrow and convex, becoming broader 

 toward the end, with a medial groove ; the tip hard and 

 obtuse, with a prominence beneath ; lower mandible with 

 the sides sloping outwards, and having a shallow groove in 

 the greater part of their extent; the tip depressed and 

 obtuse. 



The mouth is very narrow ; the palate with several rows 

 of very small pointed, reversed papillae ; the oesophagus 

 narrow ; the stomach a roundish, compressed, muscular 

 gizzard ; the intestine of moderate length ; the cceca rather 

 long and cylindrical. 



Nostrils basal, sub-marginal, small, linear. Eyes rather 

 large, placed higher and far back. Apertures of ears rather 

 large. Legs short ; tibia feathered to the joint ; tarsus 

 rather stout, roundish, with about fifteen very broad scu- 

 tella, the sides reticulated, the hind part with two series of 

 very small scales. The hind toe small, not much above the 

 level of the rest, and with a short, convex, obtuse claw ; the 

 anterior toes compressed, the medial greatly exceeding the 

 lateral, and with a much longer, gently arched, compressed, 

 rather acute claw ; the outer toe a little longer than the 

 inner, with a shorter, more curved claw. 



The plumage is rather firm and compact ; the feathers 

 broadly rounded. The wings are long, rather broad; the 

 quills twenty ; the primaries rather broad and rounded ; the 

 outer considerably incurvate ; the first and second of about 

 equal length, the rest slowly decreasing; the inner secon- 

 daries not much elongated, broad, and rounded. Tail short; 

 rounded, of twelve rather soft feathers. 



