THE IBIS. 



NINTH SERIES. 



No. VIII. OCTOBER 1908. 



XXVI. — On the Position of the Ear' in the Woodcock (Scolo- 

 pax rusticula). By W. P. Pycraft, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



It has long been known that in the matter of the position 

 of the external aperture of the ear, taken in its relation 

 to the eye, the Snipe (Gallinago) differs markedly from all 

 other birds. It appears, however, to have generally escaped 

 the notice of naturalists that this peculiarity was still more 

 marked in the Woodcock [Scolopax] , wherein the aperture of 

 the ear comes to lie under, and in front of, a line drawn 

 vertically through the anterior canthus of the eyelid and 

 at right angles to the long axis of the beak — the only 

 measurement which can be adopted when the bird is 

 examined in the flesh. This may be called the sportsman's 

 test and the test of the field-naturalist. In the Snipe, it 

 may be remarked, the aperture lies less far forward — under 

 the eye, in short, when measured by the test just described. 

 The still more abnormal position of this aperture in the 

 Woodcock escaped notice, because it was assumed that what 

 obtained in the Snipe would naturally obtain also in the 

 Woodcock. That this, however, is not the case was first 

 discovered, so far as the evidence goes, by my friend 

 Mr, C. Whymper, who induced rae to undertake the task 

 of bringing it to the notice of ornithologists, which I did 

 in the columns of 'The Field/ May 18, 1907. 



Typically, it may be remarked, this aperture lies at a 

 SEH. IX. — VOL. II. 2q 



