WOODCOCK. 333 



course of his investigations dissected, measured, and weighed 

 many hundred individuals, states that these tooth-like mark- 

 ings are absent in old birds of both sexes, although strongly 

 marked in the young ; and he asserts that neither by plum- 

 age nor by size can the sexes be distinguished with certainty. 

 He considers that there are two distinct races : one large 

 and grey, and the other small and red, which generally keep 

 separate from each other on migration ; but on the whole he 

 believes that the males have generally the shorter bill, the 

 longer wing, and the finer tail, while the rump is more red, 

 and the barrings of the under surface of the body more 

 distinct.* 



The beak is dark brown at the point, pale reddish-brown 

 at the base, and generally about three inches long; the 

 irides dark brown ; the eye large, convex, and prominent ; 

 from the beak to the eye a dark brown streak : the colour 

 of the plumage of this bird is a mixture, principally of 

 three shades of brown ; namely, pale wood-brown, chestnut' 

 brown, and dark umber-brown ; each feather on the upper 

 surface of the body contains the three shades, but so dis- 

 posed as to produce a beautifully variegated appearance. 

 The cheeks pale wood-brown, spotted with dark brown ; 

 the forehead to the top of the head, greyish-brown ; occi- 

 put and nape rich dark brown, transversely divided into three 

 nearly equal patches by two bars 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 

 upper tail- coverts chestnut-brown, tinged with grey and 

 barred transversely with dark brown ; tail-feathers black 

 above, tipped with pure dark grey ; chin very pale yellow- 



* Birds of Great Britain, vol. iv. 



