216 Life and Immortality. 
scattered over the surface of the egg, their size and intensity 
of color bearing, in general, a direct correspondence with the 
depth of the background. Remarkable variations of size 
exist throughout the species’ range, some being short and 
broad, while others are long and narrow. A set of three 
from Pennsylvania, which the writer carefully measured, 
showed an average measurement of 1.54 by 1.21 inches. 
So familiar a bird as the Woodcock, which is sometimes 
termed the Bog-sucker or Wood-snipe, hardly needs descrip- 
tion. He hasa thick, heavily-set body, short and thick neck, 
and large head, bill and eyes, and ears beneath the visual 
organs. His wings are short and rounded, the first three 
primaries being very narrow and shorter than the fourth, and 
the fourth and fifth the largest. The tarsi are about one and 
one-fourth inches long and rather stout, the tibiz feathered 
to the joints, and the toes long and slender, and without 
marginal membranes or basal webs. More than two and a 
half inches in length is the bill, straight, tapering, and stout 
at base, with ridge at base of maxilla high, and the upper 
mandible a little larger than the lower, and knobbed at the 
end. Three long grooves, one on ridge above, and the others 
on each side of maxilla, complete the structural details of 
the bill. The sexes are alike, the female being larger than 
the male. Adult specimens vary from ten to twelve inches 
in length, and have an expanse of wings of from fifteen to 
eighteen inches, and a weight ranging from four to nine 
ounces. The eyes are brown, legs and bill of the dried skin 
pale-brownish, upper parts black, gray, russet and brown, 
chin whitish, and rest of under parts different shades of 
brownish-red. 
So exquisitely sensible is the extremity of the bill, as in 
the snipe, that these birds are enabled to collect their food 
by the mere touch, without using their eyes, which are set 
at such a distance and elevation in the back part of the head 
as to give them an aspect of stupidity. The eyes being sit- 
uated high up and far back is a wise provision of nature, 
