The Woodcock 

 (Scolopax Rusticola). 



GENERAL markings: Back of the head barred 

 transversely dusky; upper plumage mottled with 

 chestnut, yellow, ash, and black; lower, reddish- 

 yellow, with brown zigzag lines; quills barred on their 

 outer web with rust-red and black ; tail of twelve feathers, 

 tipped above with grey, below with silvery white; bill, 

 flesh-colour; feet, livid. Length, thirteen inches. Eggs, 

 dirty yellow, blotched, and spotted with brown and grey. 



The history of the woodcock as a visitor in the British 

 Isles is briefly as follows : Woodcocks come to us from 

 the south in autumn, the earliest being annually observed 

 about the twentieth of October. On their first arrival they 

 are generally found to be in bad condition ; so weak, in 

 fact, that one recollects many instances of flights having 

 reached the coasts of Cornwall, only able to gain the land. 

 Their condition at these times is one of extreme exhaus- 

 tion, and they become the prey not only of the sportsman 

 but are easily captured alive. 



In the course of a very few days those that escape the 

 fowler or prowler, very quickly recruit their strength, when 

 they make their way inland. They have been known to 

 settle even on the deck of a ship, at sea, in order to rest ; 

 or actually to alight for a few moments in the smooth 

 water of a ship's wake. Their usual place of resort by day 

 are woods and coppices in hilly districts, whither they 

 repair for shelter and concealment. 



Disliking cold, they select in preference the side of a 

 valley which is least exposed to the wind ; and though they 



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