268 CHAKADRIID^ 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH 7'5 in. 



WING 4-4 



BEAK ... 0'9 



TAKSO-METATARSUS 0'8 



EGG 1-15 x -82 in. 



Allied Species and Representative Forms. Pkalaropus 

 wilsoni, which is larger than either of the preceding birds, 

 is an American representative of this genus. 



WOODCOCK. Scolopax rusticula (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 77 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe,' vol. vii, pi. 540; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. v, pis. 23, 24 ; Booth, ' Kough 

 Notes/ vol. ii, pis. 23, 24. 



The Woodcock, so named because it rests by day amidst 

 the shelter of wood and covert, is widely distributed over 

 Great Britain and Ireland in winter, being very plentiful in 

 the latter Island. A large and increasing number remain to 

 breed, and in October and November these are augmented 

 by the arrival of migrants from colder countries. 



By December the migration has practically come to an 

 end, so that the numbers which sometimes appear suddenly 

 on the coast during severe frost and snow later on in the 

 winter, represent simply a mustering together of the birds, 

 which in milder weather were scattered over the interior 

 of the country. 



The Woodcock is a peculiar bird. In its habits it is 

 strongly nocturnal, feeding almost exclusively at night, and 

 hence it is difficult to observe. 1 



1 In the summer of 1890, as I was sitting at dusk in a pine-grove near 

 Enniskerry, co. Wicklow, trying to catch sight of a Blackcap which was 

 warbling exquisitely in a tree close by, I suddenly perceived a Woodcock 

 standing within a yard or so of me. So perfectly did its rustic colours 

 harmonise with the surrounding withered ferns, leaves, mosses, stones, 



