"Behold the Birds of the Air" 73 



spotted with dark brown; the forehead, to the top of 

 the head, greyish brown; occiput and nape, rich dark 

 brown, transversely divided into three .nearly equal 

 patches by two bands of yellow wood-brown ; each 

 feather of the neck below, pale brown, edged with dark 

 brown ; the back, greyish brown, varied with reddish 

 brown and dark umber-brown ; all the wing-coverts, 

 reddish brown, with open oval rings of dark brown ; 

 primary quill feathers, blackish brown, with triangular 

 spots of pale reddish brown along the margin of each 

 web ; secondaries and tertials of the same ground colour, 

 blackish brown, but the light coloured marks are more 

 elongated, and extend from the margin of the web to 

 the shaft of the feather ; rump and tail-coverts, chestnut- 

 brown, tinged with grey, and barred transversely with 

 dark brown ; tail-feathers, black above, tipped with 

 pure dark grey ; neck in front, breast, and all the under 

 surface of the body, wood- brown, transversely barred 

 with dark brown; both shades of brown on the under 

 surface becoming lighter in old birds; under wing-coverts, 

 pale brown, barred with dark brown ; under surface of 

 the quill feathers, day-slate grey, the triangular markings, 

 yellowish grey ; under surface of the tail-feathers, nearly 

 black, tipped with delicate snow-white." 



This I think is a very wonderful picture of a species 

 to be drawn from one individual bought in Leaden- 

 hall Market ; yet the Woodcock has a large geographical 

 range, and must have been familiar with most diverse 

 experiences, being found in Lapland within the Arctic 

 circle, in Japan, in Cashmere, in Greece, in Barbary, 

 everywhere the same, down to each triangular spot and 

 open oval ring ; arguing a permanence of type most 

 strange in such variety of circumstances, and assuredly 

 inexplicable by them. 



Another question here naturally suggests itself upon 

 which, important and obvious though it be, evolutionist 

 writers do not sufficiently enlighten us. Are we to say 

 that all the Woodcocks now existing have descended 

 from one pair of Woodcocks, the first birds that ever 



