BIRDS OF NEW YORK 297 



Philohela minor (Gmelin) 

 American Woodcock 



Plate 31 



Scolopax minor Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1788. Ed. i. 2:661 

 Rusticola minor DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 257, fig. 231 

 P hi loh ela m i no r A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 228 



philo'hela, Gr. <f>iXoi, loving and cXos, bog; minor, Lat., smaller, i.e. 

 than the European woodcock 



Description. Head large; neck short; eyes large, set far back and 

 high; bill very long, compressed, the upper mandible longer and the lower 

 mandible fitted into it at the tip, its terminal portion corrugated, pitted, 

 sensitive and voluntarily flexible and fingerlike; wings short and rounded, 

 the first three primaries short, narrow and somewhat falcifonn; legs short, 

 stout, feathered to the heel joint; toes entirely free; tail of 12 feathers; 

 general build full and stocky. Upper parts intricately mottled and barred 

 with rufous, buffy and black; the feathers edged with pale ashy, forming 

 four broad stripes on the back and sca])ulars; front of head and sides of 

 neck ashy washed with rufous; occiput black with three transverse bands 

 of bufify; irregular line from bill to eye and another below the eye on sides 

 of neck, black; eyelids buffy; under parts pale rufous, brighter on sides and 

 under wing coverts ; flight feathers ashy brown ; tail feathers blackish tipped 

 with ashy and their under surfaces with silvery white; under tail coverts 

 also with white tips; bill light brown, pale at base; legs pale reddish or flesh 

 color; iris brown. 



Length J* lo-ii, 9 ii~i2 inches; extent 17-19; wing 4.75-5.75; tail 

 2.2-2.5; bill 2.5-2.75; tarsus 1.2-1.4; middle toe and claw 1.5; weight, 

 males 5-6 ounces; females 6-8 ounces, extra fat ones rarely 9 ounces. 



Distribution. The Woodcock inhabits the eastern United States and 

 Canada, north to Manitoba and southern Labrador, and westward to the 

 plains, wintering in the southern half of its range. In New York it is a 

 summer resident, and formerly nested commonly in every county of the 

 State, but is now fast disappearing from the more inhabited districts on 

 account of the incessant slaughter by gunners in the open season, and by 

 telegraph wires at all seasons, the killing of its young by cats and other 

 predatory animals, the draining of swamps, and the destruction of its 

 favorite coverts. I have talked with gunners in western New York who 

 killed as many as 180 brace of woodcock in one season 25 years ago, but 



