WHITE AND PIED WOODCOCKS 295 



a ground of white, whilst those parts which in the 

 normal colouring of the species are deepest, were 

 here also most plainly discernible. The whole of 

 the under parts were white, yet still showing the 

 usual bars when closely examined, resembling the 

 faintest water-markings, visible only in the 

 strongest light. On November 16, 1864, a curiously 



A PIED WOODCOCK. 



pied bird, now in the possession of Lord Hastings, 

 was shot at Melton Constable. In this specimen 

 all the primaries of one wing, except the fourth, 

 and the wing-coverts, were pure white ; and in 

 the other wing the three first primaries and one or 

 two feathers in the coverts, the rest of the plumage 

 being of the usual tint. On March 17, 1859, a 

 Woodcock was also killed near Lowestoft, in 



