WOODCOCK SHOOTING, 167 



about twenty- six iii breadth, and weighs from nine to 

 eleven ounces. The plumage is coloured in all this 

 genus with subdued and quaker-like tints. These 

 in their turn varying from a brick-dust light brown 

 to a sort of yellowish grey, to which last hue the fore- 

 head assimilates. Across the crown and nape there 

 are four bars of black brown, of a rich colour, the two 

 first the most marked ; a narrow band of yellowish or 

 reddish white separates them : on the fore part of the 

 neck, and from the corners, there are patches of 

 Sienna browai, of a pale colour. The wings are 

 darkish brown, with black intermixed, and white, or 

 pale yellow, tips, marked triangularly outside with 

 chesnut brown, on the inner side with a sort of red 

 brown ; the outer web of the first quill is usually the 

 palest, verging to a faint yellow, while the dark colours 

 are the triangular spots upon it. The tail has twelve 

 feathers; it is black, cut into with brown; the upper 

 tips grey, the under white : a redder hue on the 

 breast, and marked with bro^vn of various shades in 

 various birds. The back is an admixture of brown, 

 yellow, and grej, with darker markings of brown and 

 black ; the whole plumage of a light sand brown 

 effect, with shadings of grey and darker browns and 

 black. The legs and base of the bill are pale brown- 

 ish pink: at the tip of the bill it becomes nearly 

 black. Tliis bird suff'ers severely in the hard frosts 

 of the winter, from its peculiar habits of turning 

 over the sand and dried leaves in search of food. In 

 this countiy, the number of woodcocks known to visit 



