THE MIGRATION OF WOODCOCKS 285 



been exceptionally fine birds, for the average 

 weight of a Woodcock may be set down at 12 oz. or 

 thereabouts. Of such phenomenal weights as 

 those of 24 oz. and 27 oz. mentioned by Yarrell as 

 appertaining to woodcocks shot in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, it may be remarked (as has been said of 

 many great and good men before now) we shall 

 probably " never look upon their like again." 



It is often asserted that the sexes of the Wood- 

 cock may be distinguished by the appearance of the 

 first primary feather in the wing, in which, it is said, 

 the outer web is of a uniform colour in the female, 

 and has white or buffy-white zigzag markings on a 

 darker ground in the male bird. This, however, is 

 a fallacy. The variation is not indicative of sex 

 but of age, the young birds having the outer web of 

 this feather variegated, the old ones plain. In point 

 of fact the sexes are externally indistinguishable. 



