I20 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Sub-family SCOLOPACIN.-E. 

 Bill moderate or long, straight or slightly decurved ; hind 

 toe usually present, anterior toes free or slightly webbed. 



Woodcock. Scolopax riisticola Linn. 



The literature of the Woodcock (Plate 45) is extensive ; it is 

 tlie bird of the sportsman. In the British Isles it is a resident, 

 a winter visitor, and a passage migrant from northern Europe 

 and Asia to winter quarters lurther south. Statements that all 

 British-bred birds winter here or that all migrate do not cover 

 the ground ; the only conclusion that can be reached if we 

 examine the reports of recovery of ringed birds is that there is 

 no fixed rule, and that Woodcock, like many other species, 

 show individuality. Some young birds remain near the place 

 of birth, others wander in autumn, even travelling north, and 

 others again go abroad. What proportion emigrate we do not 

 know ; the fact that more are reported from near home than 

 from the Continent is natural ; the chances of marked birds 

 being reported from abroad are small. Many birds marked in 

 England and Scotland are found in Ireland. 



The Woodcock has a noticeable character — a big eye set far 

 back on a round head ; this coupled with a long bill, a dark 

 stripe from bill to eye, black bars on head and neck, and soft 

 marbled and barred buff, brown, and black plumage, are a 

 combination which even the r.ovice cannot mistake. As a matter 

 of fact, however, our visions of the living Woodcock are as a 

 rule fleeting. By day it shuns the open, crouching quietly in 

 the woods, its colour and markings in such harmony with its 

 surroundings that it is invisible unless disturbed. Then, rising 

 with a swish of wings, it dodges through the trees, to drop at a 

 safe distance. We may come upon it again, squatting in a 

 ditch with long bill depressed and eye upon us, but the chances 

 are that we shall not see it until it again takes wing. The 



