162 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



lighter in colour, almost white, with the small dark triangular 

 speck at the end of these light-coloured feathers better denned ; 

 the back has more of the pale brown and grey, and the rump less 

 of the red than the females ;" but none of these characters are of 

 any value, and are found equally in birds of both sexes, when 

 adult. The triangular marks on the outer web of the first quill- 

 feathers are certainly indications of youth and not of sex, " and 

 are obliterated by degrees, and in succession, from the base to the 

 end of the feather." Gould was of opinion that there are two 

 distinct races of Woodcock, one large and grey, and the other 

 small and red ; and that they generally keep separate from each 

 other on migration. It is highly probable that the old and young 

 birds keep more or less separate when migrating. 



Thanks to the splendid gift of Mr. A. 0. Hume, there is a 

 fine series of Indian examples of the Woodcock in the Natural 

 History Museum, and it would appear, from the details which he 

 has published regarding these, that, on the whole, Indian birds 

 average lighter and measure less than European, but I cannot 

 find any constant difference in the measurements, and the Indian 

 birds, as a whole, have quite as large a wing measurement as 

 specimens from China, Japan, Europe, and Great Britain. 



It is quite possible that our resident Woodcock which have 

 bred in this country may, on the whole, be somewhat larger and 

 heavier than the Scandinavian immigrants. We find this to be 

 the case with the Einged Plover (JZgialitis hiaticula), and on this 

 account the resident British birds have been called Mgialitis major 

 by some ornithologists. 



Of the Indian Woodcock Mr. Hume writes, " I have the exact 

 measurements recorded in the flesh of over fifty Indian-killed 

 specimens, . . . and these, I think, show our birds to be smaller 

 than the European ones, and they show absolutely no constant 

 difference in the size of the sexes." The following is an abstract 

 of all these measurements : — 



Length, 13*0 to 15'0 in. ; expanse, 23*0 to 25*5 ; wing, 7*2 

 to 8*0; tail, from vent, 3*0 to 3*85; tarsus, 1*35 to 1*57; bill, 

 from gape, 2'8 to 3*3 ; weight, 7 oz. to 12*5 oz. In not one out 

 of fifty-three birds has the wing exceeded 8 inches. In my only 

 Yarkand specimen it is 8*5, and it exceeds 8 inches in every one 

 of five English specimens. In only five out of fifty-three birds 

 has the weight exceeded 10 oz., and in these five the weights 



