WOODCOCK'. 



347 



FIG. 384. WOODCOCK. 



these birds is soft and very 

 sensitive. Their feet have 

 no traces of a web ; all of 

 them have their head more 

 or less flattened, and their 

 great eyes placed very far 

 back, giving them the ap- 

 pearance of being stupid, 

 and indeed their habits 

 quite agree in this respect 

 with their physiognomy. 



The Woodcock (Scolo- 

 fax rusticola) and the Com- 



mon Snipe (S. Gallmago) 



are well-known examples of 

 this extensive family, as are the 

 Turnstones (Strepsclas). 



Many of these birds migrate 

 at certain seasons. The period 

 of their migrations is fixed by 

 Nature for each species, and it 

 is remarked that they follow 

 the same route every year; hence 

 in certain districts the fowlers 

 orbirdcatchers count upon their 

 arrival as upon rent that falls 

 due on a certain day, and cal- 

 culate in advance the period of 

 their passage. Armed with 

 their nets and all the apparatus 

 of the chase, they station them- 

 selves in the gorges and in the 

 valleys througfnvhich the flocks 

 are to pass, and await their 

 coming just as they would the 

 arrival of a railway train. 



TRIBE IV. MACRO- 

 DACTYLES. 



The tribe of Macro 

 dactyles* have their 

 toes very much length- 

 ened, so as to be adapt- 

 ed for walking over the 

 floating vegetation of 

 marshes, or even for 

 swimming, should their 

 possessors happen to 

 fall from their unstable 



, macros, long; SO.KTV\O<;, dactylos, a toe. 



