34° The Water-fowl Family 



AMERICAN WOODCOCK 1 

 (Philohela minor) 



Male and female in breeding plumage — Head, ashy rufous, marked 

 with dark line on forehead from culmen, another from bill to 

 eye, and on ear-coverts ; occiput, black, crossed by three pale 

 rufous lines ; upper parts generally, pale rufous, barred with 

 black and blotched with same toward ends of scapulars, inter- 

 scapulars, and tertiaries, and many feathers tipped or barred 

 with lavender-ash ; primaries and secondaries, brown, the first 

 three short and narrow, tipped with pale rufous, and inner sec- 

 ondaries vermiculated with the same ; centre of rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, black, vermiculated with rufous ; sides of both, pale 

 rufous, irregularly barred with black ; tail, black, tipped above 

 with gray, below with whitish, and spotted with rufous on outer 

 webs ; below, rufous, brighter on sides and flanks, washed with 

 gray on breast, becoming buffy on chin and lower abdomen, 

 and spotted with black on lower tail-coverts ; bill, brown, 

 yellowish at base of mandible, and tipped with black ; feet and 

 legs, pale reddish ; iris, brown. 



Winter plumage and young — Similar. 



Downy young — Buff; crown and line from bill through eye, deep 

 chestnut ; rest of upper parts spotted with chestnut. 



Measurements — Length, n inches; wing, 5.25 inches; tail, 2.25 

 inches; culmen, 2.75 inches; tarsus, 1.25 inches. 



Eggs — Four; rounded oval; buff, spotted with brown; measure 1.50 

 by 1.20 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds from northern Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana, north to Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 Quebec, Ontario, and eastern Manitoba, and west to the Red 

 River Valley, eastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and 

 eastern Colorado. Winters from New Jersey, southern Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, south to the Gulf Coast and west 

 to Indian Territory and Texas, and occasionally north to Massa- 

 chusetts and Michigan. Recorded doubtfully from Jamaica, 

 Labrador, and California. Accidental at York Factory, Hud- 

 son Bay, and in Bermuda. 



1 The American woodcock is classed with upland game-birds and 

 fully described in the " Upland Game-Birds " of this library. 



