132 



SHORE BIRDS 



AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



Golden Plover is actually 

 on the brink of oblivion, 

 and in effect it is to-day 

 so nearly extinct that it 

 may as well be classed 

 with the birds that were, 

 but are not. 



The American Wood- 

 cock^ is the oddest- 

 looking land-bird in 

 North America. Its legs 

 are too short for so large a body, its tail is only half as long 

 as it should be, its neck is too short and too thick, and its 

 head is entirely out of drawing. The eyes are placed too far 

 back, and the bill is too long and too straight. In appear- 

 ance, the Woodcock looks like an avian caricature. 



But, odd or not, this 

 bird is very dear to the 

 heart of the great Amer- 

 ican sportsman, and its 

 plump brown body is a 

 genuine delicacy. It has 

 a long array of local 

 names, some of which 

 are so uncouth that the 

 less said concerning them 

 the better. 



The long, sensitive 



WOODCOCK ON NEST. 



Photographed at a distance of 6 feet, by Le Key 

 M. Tufts, and copyright, 1903. 



' Phi-lo-he'la mi'nor. Average length, about 10.50 inches. 



