70 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tion) of a large, central crown patch, extending in a stripe down 

 the forehead, a large occipital patch, a stripe from the bill through 

 the eye to the occiput, a broad stripe down the center and one down 

 each side of the back, a patch on each wing and each thigh and 

 irregular markings on the sides of the head and neck; the under 

 parts are more rufous, " pinkish cinnamon " or " cinnamon buff," and 

 unmarked. 



The juvenal plumage appears at an early age, coming in first on 

 the back and wings ; the wings grow rapidly, and the young bird can 

 fly long before it is fully grown. This plumage is much like that 

 of the adult, but it can be distinguished during the first summer by 

 its looser texture and by broader brown edgings on the wing coverts, 

 scapulars, and tertials. A prolonged postnuptial molt of the bod}' 

 plumage during late summer and fall produces a first winter plum- 

 age which is nearly adult. At the first prenuptial molt, in late winter 

 and spring, young birds become indistinguishable from adults. 



Adults have an incomplete prenuptial molt, involving the body 

 plumage, some wing coverts, scapulars, and tertials, in late winter 

 and early spring, and a complete postnuptial molt in July and 

 August. Fall birds are much more richly colored than spring adults. 



Food. — The woodcock is a voracious feeder; its principal food 

 is earthworms or angleworms, of which it has been known to eat 

 more than its own weight in 24 hours. It is said to feed mainly 

 at night or during the hours of twilight or dusk. The worms are 

 obtained by probing in mud or damp earth in any place where 

 worms are to be found, including gardens and cultivated fields. The 

 long bill of the woodcock is well supplied with sensitive nerves, in 

 which the sense of touch is highly developed ; it can detect the move- 

 ments of a worm in the soil and capture it by probing. Numerous 

 borings are often seen close together, indicating that the bird does not 

 alwaj^s strike the worm at the first stab. Probably its keen ears also 

 help to locate its prey. It is said to beat the soft ground with its 

 feet or wings, whicli is supposed to suggest the effect of pattering 

 rain and draw the worms toward the surface. 



C. J. Maynard (1896) made the following observations on a cap- 

 tive bird : 



The floor of its house was covered to the depth of four or five inches with dark- 

 colored loam, in which I planted a quantity of weeds, beneath which the wood- 

 cock could hide. I would drop a number of worms on this soil, which, as the 

 bird was too shy to feed at first, had ample time to bury themselves. At times, 

 however, I was able to watch the bird unseen by it ; then the woodcock, which 

 had remained hidden in the corner behind the sheltering weeds, would emerge 

 cautiously and walk over the ground, slowly and deliberately, pausing every 

 instant or two as if listening intently. Then he would stamp with one foot, 

 giving several sharp, quick blows, after which he would bow his head near the 

 ground and again listen. Then suddenly he would turn either to the right or 



