SCOLOPACIDM: WOODCOCK. 



619 



329. PHILO'HELA. (Gr. (^I'Xot, iJ7^^7os, loving; ?Xot, Mos, a bog.) American Woodcock. 

 First three primaries emarginato, attenuate auil falcate, abruptly shorter and narrower than the 

 4tli. Wings short and rounded; when folded, the primaries hidden by the coverts and inner 



Fig. 434. — Head and attenuate outer 3 primaries of Phllohela, nat. size. (Ad nat. del- E. C.) 



quills. Legs short ; tibife feathered to the joint ; tai'sus shorter than middle toe aud claw, scu- 

 tellate before and behind ; toes long and slender, cleft to the base. Bill much longer than head, 

 perfectly straight, stout at base, where the ridge rises high, kn(jbbed at end of upper mandible, 

 very deeply grooved nearly all its length, the culmen aud line of gonys also furrowed toward 

 end ; very soft and sensitive ; gape very short and narrow. Head large ; neck short ; ear under 

 the eye, which is very full, set in back upper corner of the head. Sexes alike ; 9 largest. 

 P. mi'nor. (Lat. minor, smaller — tlian the European Woodcock. Figs. 432, 43i, 43.5.) 

 AVooDCOCK. Bog-sucker. Colors above hamioniously blended and varied black, brown, 

 gray, aud russet ; be- 

 low, pale warm brown i ' V" "V ' "" ' " " \ 

 of variable shade, not 

 barred. A dark stripe 

 from bill to eye. 

 Crown from opposite 

 eye with blacli and 

 light bars ; along the 

 inner edges of the 

 wings a bluish-ashy 

 stripe ; lining of wings 

 rust - brown ; quills 1 

 plain fuscLius ; tail 

 black, spotted, and 

 tipped ; bill brownish 

 flesh-color, dusky at 

 end ; feet pale red- 

 dish flesh-color. The 

 woodcock is 10 or 11 

 inches long, and IG ' ' \i"-ii- i- \\ - jI.jJ, mucL i. lu._J. Ir.m L..^.!,.) 



or 17 in extent; wing 4..50-4.7.5 ; bill 2.50-2.75 ; tarsus 1.25 ; middle toe and claw 1.50 ; and 

 weighs usually 5, 6, or 7 ounces. The woodhen, as some ajsthetie market-women prefer to caU 

 her, is larger, 11 or 12 inches long; extent 17 or 18 ; wing 4.75-5.00 ; bill 2.75-3.00; some 

 good fat ones up to 8 or 9 oz. in weight. Bogs, swamps, wet woodland and fields. Eastern 

 U. S. and Canada ; N. to Nova Scotia ; N.W. to Minnesota and up the Missouri to Fort Eice ; 





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