WOODCOCK. 231 



SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA. 

 WOODCOCK. 



(PLATE 28.) 



Scolopax scolopax, Briss. Orn. v. p. 292 (1760). 



Scolopax rusticola, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Naumann, Keyserling fy Blasius, Schlegel, Gray, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 

 Rusticola vulgaris, Vieill N. Diet. cFHist. Nat. iii. p. 348 (1816). 

 Rusticola europsea, Less. Traitt tfOrn. p. 565 (1831). 

 Scolopax indicus, Hodgs. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. ii. pt. 1, p. 490 (1837). 

 Rusticola sylvestris, Macyill. Man. Brit. B. ii. p. 105 (1842). 

 Scolopax scoparia; Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 579 (1856). 



The Woodcock breeds somewhat sparingly and locally throughout the 

 British Islands, including the Shetlands and some of the Inner Islands, 

 and may constantly be met with during winter; but its numbers are 

 largely increased in autumn and spring by birds principally passing 

 through on migration. At these seasons it is common on the Orkneys 

 and the Outer Hebrides, though, owing to the absence of suitable cover, 

 it does not breed in any of these islands. 



The Woodcock is a semi- Arctic bird, ranging from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific. In Scandinavia it breeds up to the Arctic circle ; in West Russia 

 up to about lat. 65 ; but in East Russia and Siberia not much further 

 north than lat. 60. Its southern breeding-range extends to the Azores, 

 the Canaries, and Madeira, to the Alps, the Carpathians, and the Caucasus, 

 to the Himalayas, where it breeds at an elevation of 10,000 feet, and to 

 Mongolia and the mountains of Japan. It winters in enormous numbers in 

 the basin of the Mediterranean and in Persia, India, Ceylon, Burma, and 

 China. It has not occurred in Iceland or Greenland, and only once on 

 the Faroes ; but accidental stragglers have been met with on the American 

 continent, in Newfoundland, New Jersey, and Virginia. 



In the New World our Woodcock is represented by the American Wood- 

 cock (Scolopax minor), a much smaller bird, with the three first primaries 

 curiously narrowed, and the underparts nearly uniform buff, without the 

 transverse bars. 



Opinions differ as to the fact of the Woodcock being a resident in our 

 islands. Sportsmen and gamekeepers assert that the Woodcocks bred in 

 this country migrate southwards in August, presumably to their winter- 

 quarters in the basin of the Mediterranean, whilst their place is not taken 

 by winter visitors from Scandinavia until the middle of October. This 

 view is supported by the observations of St. John (' Wild Sports &c. of the 

 Highlands/ illustrated edition, p. 266), who states that he could never find 



