236 BRITISH BIRDS. 



not as subspecific. Hume contends that Indian birds are less than those 

 obtained in the British Islands ; but I can find no difference in the 

 measurements of British examples compared with those from China and 

 Japan. 



It is not known that the sexes o£ the Woodcock can be distinguished by 

 their plumage. The adult in breeding-plumage is a very handsome bird. 

 The general colour of the upper parts^ including the outer webs of the 

 quills, is reddish chestnut, transversely vermiculated with black; the 

 feathers of the hind neck, mantle, and scapulars are also richly and 

 boldly spotted with nearly black and pale grey ; and the tail-feathers, which 

 are twelve in number, are black, with grey tips on the upper surface, 

 silver-white tips on the under surface, and with the outer web margined 

 with a row of chestnut spots. The general colour of the underparts, 

 including the axillaries, is greyish buff, barred with brown. Bill dull flesh- 

 colour, shading into dark brown at the tip ; legs and feet dull flesh-colour ; 

 claws dark brown;- irides dark hazel. After the autumn moult the 

 principal change in the colour of the plumage is that the bold pale grey 

 spots on the upper parts are greyish bufi'. Young in first plumage very 

 closely resemble adults; but the bold pale spots on the upper parts are 

 much less conspicuous, being smaller and chestnut-bufi". The most 

 striking ditt'erence is to be found in the tail-feathers, in which the grey 

 tips on the upper surface have bufl' bases, and the chestnut spots on the 

 margin of the outer webs are lengthened into bars reaching to the shaft. 

 Birds of the year are intermediate in these respects between adults and 

 young in first plumage. Young in down have the upper parts rich 

 chestnut-brown, marbled with black and dusted with white, and have the 

 underparts bufl*, darkest on the breast. 



