SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA 9 



reasons which account for their being smaller would also account for 

 their being lighter. Hume comments on the comparative weight of 

 Himalayan (?) and English birds at some length, but his conclusions 

 are hardly convincing, especially when one remembers, as has already 

 been shown, that they are based on deductions made from a series of 

 probably immature birds. He says that only five birds out of fifty- 

 three weighed exceeded 10 ozs., whilst the weight generally was 

 between 7 and 12J ozs., and he compares this record of weights with 

 a bag made in Ireland, 



" In only five out of fifty-three birds has the weight exceeded 

 10 ozs., and of these five the weights were: 10'5, 11'5, l'2'O, 120, and 

 12'o ozs. Out of 53^, couples shot .... in South-west Ireland 

 twenty-seven weighed between 12 and 11 ozs. six between 14 and 



15 ozs. and one between 15 and 16 ozs Our fifty-three 



birds weighed : between 7 and 8 ozs. fourteen ; between 8 and 

 9 ozs. eighteen ; between 9 and 10 ozs. sixteen; above 10 ozs. five. 

 There is an undoubted instance on record of a Woodcock in England 

 weighing 27 ozs." I have found it difficult to obtain weights of 

 Indian-killed birds, but the few I have obtained of fidhj adult 

 birds do not seem to show that our birds are much inferior to 

 English when in good condition and full-sized. Thus Colonel 

 Wilson writes me : "I have only weighed one bird, as it struck me 

 as being bigger than usual ; this weighed 13 ozs., and was the bird I 

 sent on to you." 



Later in 1911 and 1912 Colonel Wilson again gives the following 

 weights of fifty-five more Woodcock shot in three years : Average 

 of fifty-five birds, 10'60 ozs. ; 10 ozs. and under, eighteen; 11 ozs. 

 and under, twenty-two ; 12 ozs. and under, twelve ; between 12 and 

 13 ozs., three. 



Major H. E. Baker records one of 16 ozs. shot in the Nilgiris, 

 and Captain Lambton one of 14J ozs. from the same hills. He also 

 notes that whereas birds shot early in the season rarely exceed 8 ozs., 

 those shot in March average between 10 and 12 ozs. 



Captain C. E. Douglas gives the weights of seventy-two birds shot 

 in the West of Ireland, and the average works out as 11'82 ozs., i.e., 

 more than an ounce heavier than the Indian ones. The lightest bird 

 was 10 ozs., and there were only two below 11, whereas in Colonel 



