THE WOOD-COCKS. 207 



spot ; under wing-coverts and axillaries tawny-buff barred with 

 blackish ; lower primary-coverts and quill-lining ashy-grey, 

 notched with buff on the inner webs ; bill dusky-brown, livid 

 at base of lower mandible; feet greyish; iris dark brown. 

 Total length, 15 inches; culmen, 2-85; wing, 7-5; tail, 3-5; 

 tarsus, 1-55. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male. Total length, 14 inches; 

 wing, 7-5. 



Young Birds.— Always darker than the adults, and having 

 creamy-whitish, instead of ashy, spots at the end of the dorsal 

 and scapular feathers ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts are plainly barred across with dusky-brown, and the 

 tail-feathers are not only largely notched with sandy-buff on 

 their margins, but have a narrow sub-terminal line of sandy-buff 

 between the ashy tip and the black of the rest of the feathers. 

 The outer web of the primaries has a distinct series of fulvous 

 notches. 



Winter Plumage.— Darker than the summer plumage, but not 

 otherwise different. 



The variation in size of Wood-cocks is very remarkable, but 

 I quite agree with Mr. Ogilvie-Grant that there is only one 

 species, and that the so-called " light " race is only the young 

 bird ; but when this is admitted, the extraordinary difference in 

 size in some individuals cannot be overlooked. Thus a specimen 

 from Cornwall in the British Museum is a perfect dwarf, com- 

 pared with the generality of British specimens, and has the bill 

 only 2-15 inches in length, and the wing only 6-4, instead of 

 2-85 and 7*5 inches respectively in averaged-sized birds. Al- 

 though there are some individuals in the British Museum, 

 which are marked as being females, and equal the males in size, 

 there can, I think, be no doubt that, as a rule, she is a larger 

 bird than her mate. 



Nestling.— Covered with velvety down of a rufous colour, with 

 a broad band of chestnut-brown down the centre of the crown, 

 and another down the centre of the back, with three broad 

 transverse bands down the sides of the body ; on each side of 

 the crown and dorsal stripe a broad streak of isabelline ; a black 

 loral line and a central streak on the forehead also black ; under 

 surface of body pale rufous, inclining to isabelline on the abdo- 



