284 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family CHAEADEIID^. Genus Scolopax. 



Subfamily Sgolopacinm. 



WOODCOCK. 



SCOLOPAX EUSTICULA— Limi^Bws. 



Plate XXIX. 



Scolopax rusticula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766) ; Dresser, B. Bur. vii. p. 615, 

 pi. 540 (1877) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iii. p. 320 (1883) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. 

 iii. p. 231 (1885) ; Lilford, Col, Fig. Brit. B. pts. viii. (1888), xiv. (1890) ; Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs Brit. B. p. 280 (1893) ; Sharps, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 205 

 (1896) ; Seebohm, Col. Pig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 152, pi. 41 (1896) ; Sharps, Cat. B. 

 Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 671 (1896). 



Rusticola sylvestris (Brehm) ; Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 386 (1852). 



Geographical distribution — British .- In the British Islands the 

 Woodcock is a local resident, but most abundant during winter and on spring and 

 autumn migration, especially the latter. It breeds sparingly throughout the 

 British Islands (including the Shetlands), except perhaps on the Orkneys and 

 Hebrides. It has, however, been recorded as having bred on the Long Island 

 and other similar districts where suitable cover is wanting. Foreign : Palasarctic 

 region ; Oriental region in winter. It breeds in the forest districts of Scandinavia 

 as far north as the Arctic circle, in West Eussia up to about lat. 65°, and in East 

 Eussia and Siberia not much beyond lat. 60°. Southwards it breeds as low as 

 the Azores, the Canaries, and Madeira, and at considerable elevations in the 

 Alps, the Carpathians, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. Its southern breeding 

 range in Asia reaches the Himalayas at an elevation of ten thousand feet, the 

 mountains of the Baikal district, Mongolia, and the mountains of Japan. In the 

 southern portion of its breeding area it is probably a resident, but the birds 

 breeding in the north pass southwards to the basin of the Mediterranean, Persia, 

 India (occasionally straying to Ceylon), Burmah, and China for the cold season; 

 breeding, however, in the latter country in Western Szechuen at an altitude of 

 from ten thousand to twelve thousand feet. It has occurred on the Faroes, and 

 is an accidental wanderer to the Azores, Newfoundland, New Jersey, and 

 Virginia. 



Allied forms. — Scolopax minor, an inhabitant of North America from 

 about lat. 60° in the north to Texas in the south, and as far west as the Eocky 



