No. 43.] BIRD NAMES. j-gj 



Dr. Coues says : " This is the game bird, after all, say what 

 you please of Snipe, Quail, or Grouse." Yes, Doctor, either in 

 the field or on toast. 



AMERICAN WOODCOCK: this (its correct name) distinguishing 

 it from the European woodcock, Scolopax rusticola. It has been 

 likewise termed LITTLE WOODCOCK and LESSER WOODCOCK, be- 

 ing considerably smaller than the Okl World species. 



In Bartram's Travels through North and South Carolina, 

 etc., 1791, GREAT RED WOODCOCK. (See "little woodcock" ap- 

 plied to No. 44.) 



Though known very generally as WOODCOCK in populous 

 regions, we should bear in mind that this name is applied by 

 backwoodsmen and other country-folk to the Pileated Wood- 

 pecker Ceophlcew pileatus wherever that big red-crested bird 

 of the tall timber is found. Many funny stories are told of 

 sportsmen being led far into the woods by promises of good 

 " woodcock " shooting, only to find at the end of their journey 

 that woodpeckers were the birds referred to. 



It may be added that the popularization of the name " wood- 

 cock " for No. 43 is quite a modern accomplishment. Almost 

 any old man that you may ask concerning the truth of this 

 statement will tell you that he never associated the name with 

 species now in hand during his boyhood. Many old people will 

 tell you that as children they knew this bird by the name of 

 SNIPE. Not merely as a snipe, be it understood, but as the 

 snipe, and our woodcock is the "snipe" still, in rural districts 

 far too numerous to mention, the species being commonly re- 

 ferred to collectively as "snipes" in these localities. See our 

 true snipe, the snipe of most city people, sportsmen, and market- 

 gunners, No. 44. 



In an article entitled Woodcock Shooting, in Cabinet of Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. I., 1830, the author speaks of the present species as' 

 called BIG SNIPE, RED -BREASTED SNIPE (see No. 45), and 

 MUD SNIPE ; and " big snipe " is the popular appellation among 

 the crackers and negroes' at Jacksonville, Fla., though many of 

 them recognize the bird by its name " woodcock." 



