BIRDS or EGYPT. 247 



few of the centre ones ; quills dark brown ; undcrparts 

 white, shaded with hair-brown on the lower part of the throat, 

 crop, and sides of the chest ; beak brownish black ; legs 

 olive-brown ; irides dark brown. 



Entire length 12 inches; culmen 1'5; wing, carpus to 

 tip, 7"5 ; tarsus 1"9. 



Female in winter. — Differs only from the male at that 

 season in being smaller and in having the legs pale yellowish 

 brown. Entire length 10 inches. 



In summer the male puts on the broad ruff from which 

 the bird takes its name, and varies immensely in its plu- 

 mage, no two specimens being exactly alike. 



Fig. Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 328. 



249. ScoLOPAX RUSTicoLA, Liuu. Woodcock. 



The Woodcock appears to be only an accidental straggler 

 in Egypt. During my last tour I heard of a specimen having 

 been captured in the Delta, and am also glad to find the 

 locality " Egypt " given to the species in Mr. G. R. Gray's 

 ' Hand-list of Birds.' 



Forehead and top of the head greyish brown, hind part 

 and nape rufous, with four broad black bands ; from the 

 gape to the eye a streak of deep brown ,- chin white ; on the 

 side of the neck a patch of brown ; the upper parts are a 

 mixture of rufous brown, black, yellow, and grey, with zigzag 

 transverse lines and pencillings of black, darkest on the back 

 and scapulars ; rump and tail-coverts chestnut, Avith paler 

 tips and narrow transverse bars of black ; tail black, varied 

 with chestnut and tipped with grey above and white beneath > 



