DESCRIPTION OF THE WOODCOCK. 1-11 



wliich forces them to migrate into milder climates, 

 where the ground being soft enables them to bore with 

 their bills for worms and other insects, which form their 

 chief nourishment. 



The woodcock is about fifteen inches long, the breadth 

 with the wings extended twenty-six inches, the bill three, 

 dark towards the end, reddish at the base, and hollowed 

 lengthways ; the upper mandible hangs over the lower, 

 and forms the round point of its bill, and nature has 

 given an additional organ at this extremity, adapted to 

 the mode of procuring its sustenance. The tip is rather 

 flesh than horn, and appears susceptible of a sort of 

 touch, calculated for detecting its prey in the moist earth. 

 The tongue is slender, long, sharp, and hard ; the eyes 

 large and of a brilliant black colour, and placed near the 

 top of the head, to j)revent their being injured when the 

 bird thrusts his bill into the ground. From the bill to 

 the eye is a black line ; the forehead is a reddish ash- 

 colour ; the crown of the head, the hind part of the neck, 

 the back, the coverts of the wings, and the scapulars 

 are prettily barred with a ferruginous red, Ijlack, and 

 grey, but on the head the black predominates. The 

 under eyelid is white, the chin ash-colour, the forepart of 

 the neck yellowish, the under part of the body dirty- 

 white, barred with numerous transverse dusky lines. 

 The quill feathers are dusky, marked on the outer web 

 with triangular rufous spots, and the same on the inner 

 web close to the shaft. The tail consists of twelve 

 feathers, dusky or black on the one web and marked on 

 the other with red, the tips above ash-colour, below 

 white, which to the full black eye gives to this bird a 

 very pleasing appearance. The legs and toes are a pale 

 flesh coloured brown, the latter divided almost entirely. 



