WOODCOCK SHOOTING. 171 



them to support. Numbers, nevertheless, perish at 

 sea; numbers are picked up dead on the coast; num- 

 bers alight on vessels during the passage. 



Varieties occur in this bird. Dr. Latham speci- 

 fies three : " In the first, the head is of a pale red, 

 body white, and the wings brown ; the second is of a 

 dun, or rather cream colour ; and the third of a pure 

 white." One writer describes having met with a 

 variety, the colour of which was a fine pale ash, with 

 frequent bars of a veiy delicate rufous ; tail brown, 

 tipped with white ; arid the bill and legs flesh colour. 

 Mr. Daniel speaks of the different sizes of woodcocks : 

 that those found first in the season are the largest, 

 fly heavily, and their heads, especially the under 

 parts, appear to be encircled with short feathers ; 

 that these large birds are not so numerous with 

 us as a smaller size, which arrive in November and 

 December, with shorter bills and smoother feathers. 

 " Woodcocks that come about Candlemas," he says, 

 " are also small, and differ in their manner of flying; 

 are quicker of wing, take long flights, and are well 

 known to be difficult to be shot, from their not rising 

 above the spray, like the larger muffled woodcock, 

 but make their way for some distance, as it were, 

 among the boughs." Baillon mentions a grey-legged 

 woodcock, and a blue-legged one ; a pure white bird 

 has been seen. We find, indeed, that varieties of 

 climate among animals, of whatever class, generate, 

 almost invariably, varieties of plumage. 



Generic characters, according to Jardine : bill 



