216 Life and Immortality. 



scattered over the surface of the egg, their size and intensity 

 of color bearing, in general, a direct correspondence with the 

 depth of the background. Remarkable variations of size 

 exist throughout the species' range, some being short and 

 broad, while others are long and narrow. A set of three 

 from Pennsylvania, which the writer carefully measured, 

 showed an average measurement of 1.54 by 1.21 inches. 



So familiar a bird as the Woodcock, which is sometimes 

 termed the Bog-sucker or Wood-snipe, hardly needs descrip- 

 tion. He has a thick, heavily-set body, short and thick neck, 

 and large head, bill and eyes, and ears beneath the visual 

 organs. His wings are short and rounded, the first three 

 primaries being very narrow and shorter than the fourth, and 

 the fourth and fifth the largest. The tarsi are about one and 

 one-fourth inches long and rather stout, the tibiae feathered 

 to the joints, and the toes long and slender, and without 

 marginal membranes or basal webs. More than two and a 

 half inches in length is the bill, straight, tapering, and stout 

 at base, with ridge at base of maxilla high, and the upper 

 mandible a little larger than the lower, and knobbed at the 

 end. Three long grooves, one on ridge above, and the others 

 on each side of maxilla, complete the structural details of 

 the bill. The sexes are alike, the female being larger than 

 the male. Adult specimens vary from ten to twelve inches 

 in length, and have an expanse of wings of from fifteen to 

 eighteen inches, and a weight ranging from four to nine 

 ounces. The eyes are brown, legs and bill of the dried skin 

 pale-brownish, upper parts black, gray, russet and brown, 

 chin whitish, and rest of under parts different shades of 

 brownish-red. 



So exquisitely sensible is the extremity of the bill, as in 

 the snipe, that these birds are enabled to collect their food 

 by the mere touch, without using their eyes, which are set 

 at such a distance and elevation in the back part of the head 

 as to give them an aspect of stupidity. The eyes being sit- 

 uated high up and far back is a wise provision of nature, 



