SCOLOPA CIDJS : W OODCOCK. 



619 



229. PHILO'HELA. (Gr. <^iXof, ^/tiZos, loving ; f\oi, helos, a bog.) American Woodcock. 

 First three primaries emarginate, attoimate and falcate, abruptly shorter and narrower than the 

 4th. Wings short and rounded ; when folded, the primaries hidden by the coverts and inner 



Fig. 434. — Head and attenuate outer 3 primaries of PhUohela, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. E. 0.) 



quills. Legs short ; tibiae feathered to the joint ; tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw, scu- 

 tellate before and behind ; toes long and slender, cleft to the base. Bill much longer than head, 

 perfectly straight, stout at base, where the ridge rises high, knobbed at end of upper mandible, 

 very deeply grooved nearly all its length, the culmen and line of gonys also fuiTowed toward 

 end; very soft and sensitive ; gape very short and narrow. Head large ; neck short; ear under 

 the eye, which is very full, set in back upper corner of the head. Sexes alike ; 9 largest. 

 605. P. mi'nor. (Lat. minor, smaller — than the European Woodcock. Figs. 432, 434, 435.) 

 Woodcock. Bog-sucker. Colors above harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, 

 gray, and russet ; be- _ 



low, pale warm brown 

 of variable shade, not 

 barred. A dark stripe 

 from bill to eye. 

 Crown from opposite 

 eye with black and 

 light bars ; along the 

 inner edges of tlif 

 wings a bluish-asli\ 

 stripe; lining of wiui: 

 rust -brown; quill 

 plain fuscous; t.i 

 black, spotted, and 

 tipped ; bill brownish 

 tlesh-color, dusky at 

 end; feet pale red- 

 dish flesh-ctdor. The 

 woodcock is 10 or 11 



inches long, and 16 F,G. 435. -Amu n, .„ \Vn.„l,,Kk. „,„ n . in,,,, Lewis.) 



or 17 in extent ; wing 4.50-4.75 ; bill 2.50-2.75 ; tarsus 1.25 ; middle toe and claw 1.50 ; and 

 weighs usually 5, 6, or 7 ounces. The woodheu, as some esthetic market-women prefer to call 

 her, is larger, 11 or 12 inches long; extent 17 or 18 ; wing 4.75-5.00 ; bill 2.75-3.00; some 

 good fat ones up to 8 or 9 oz. in weight. Bogs, swamps, wet woodland and fields. Eastern 

 U. S. and Canada ; N. to Nova Scotia ; N.W. to Minnesota and up the Missouri to Fort Rice ; 



