A6 
WOODCOCK SNIPE. Crass II. 
inches long, dusky towards the end, reddish at 
the base; the tongue slender, long, sharp, and 
hard at the point; the eyes large, and placed 
near the top of the head, that they may not be 
injured when the bird thrusts its bill into the 
ground: from the bill to the eyes is a black 
line; the forehead is of a reddish ash-color; 
the crown of the head, the hind part of the 
neck, the back, the coverts of the wings, and 
the scapulars, are prettily barred with a fer- 
ruginous red, black and grey; but on the 
head the black predominates; the quil feathers 
are dusky, indented with red marks. The 
chin is of a pale yellow; the whole under- 
side of the body is of a dirty white, marked 
with numerous transverse lines of a dusky color. 
The tail consists of twelve feathers, dusky, or 
black on the one web, and marked with red on 
the other; the tips above are ash-colored, below 
white; which, when shooting on the ground was 
in vogue, was the sign by which the fowler dis- 
covered the birds. The legs and toes are livid ; 
the latter divided almost to their origin, hav- 
ing only a very small web between the mid- 
dle and interior toes, as are those of the two 
species of snipes found in England. 
