37 L v «l. xxv. 



« Seebohm ['British Birds/ iii. p. 236 (1885) ] distinguishes 

 the young from the old bird as follows : — ' Young in first 

 plumage very closely resemble adults, but the bold pale spots 

 on the upperparts are much less conspicuous, being smaller 

 and chestnut-buff. The most striking difference is to be 

 found in the tail-feathers, in which the grey tips on the upper 

 surface have buff bases, and the chestnut spots on the mar- 

 gins of the outer webs are lengthened into bars reaching to 

 the shaft. Birds of the year are intermediate in these 

 respects between adults and young in first plumage.' 



" These differences are individual and do not appear to 

 have any significance whatever. 



" Lastly, the width of the barring on the underparts has 

 been suggested as a distinctive character, but, like those 

 already mentioned, it appears to be purely an individual one. 



e< The Woodcock is more or less dimorphic in plumage — 

 i. e., two more or less distinct phases of plumage are found; 

 some birds have the general colour of the upperparts greyer, 

 while in others it is richer and more rufous. The grey phase 

 and the rufous phase occur in both sexes alike, in fully adult 

 birds ; but, as far as my experience goes, the grey phase is 

 never found among young birds, which are always more or 

 less rufous. These represent what is often described by 

 sportsmen as the smaller rufous ' species ' of Woodcock. 



" Though a careful examination of the plumage of the 

 Woodcock has not led to the discovery of any character by 

 which the sexes may be recognised externally, it has suggested 

 another point of a much more interesting nature, and it 

 is to this that I especially wish to draw your attention. Of 

 the sixty odd birds examined by myself in the Azores only 

 four proved to be females. At the time I attributed this 

 partly to the fact that the birds were procured between the 

 months of February and June, when many were breeding, 

 and partly because the majority were shot when *roding/ as 

 their peculiar evening flight is called. But this explanation 

 cannot apply to the eleven young birds sent from Cumber- 

 laud, only one of which proved on dissection to be a, female. 

 The remarkable preponderance of males seems to me to 



