( 56 ) 



O R D. I. G E N U S V. SNIPE. 



Bill, long, (lender, ftraight, and weak. 



Nostrils, linear, lodged in a furrow. 



Tongue, pointed, (lender. 



Toes, divided, or very (lightly connected: back toe iTnall. 



SPECIES I. WOODCOCK. 



PI. i 57 . 



Scolopax rufticola. Liti. Syft. I. p. 243. 

 La Becaffe. Brif. Orn. V. p. 292. 



This is a well-known bird : in length about fourteen inches, in breadth 

 twenty-fix, and ufually about twelve ounces in weight. The bill is three inches 

 long, the upper mandible hanging over the lower : the eye is large, and placed 

 near the top of the head; from it to the bill is a black line: the general colour 

 of the plumage is a beautiful afiemblage of ruft colour, black, and grey, in bars 

 and fpots ; the crown of the head darken: : the under parts of the body, dufky 

 yellowifh white, croffed with numerous dufky lines : quills dufky, indented 

 with red marks : the tail confifts of twelve feathers, dufky or black, on the one 

 web, and marked with red on the other j the tips, above afh coloured, below 

 white : legs pale brown. 



The woodcock is a bird of paffage, coming to us in October, and departing 

 in fpring, but fometimes is known to breed in England. The female lays four 

 or five eggs, on a bed of dried leaves, on the ground. For the egg, fee 

 PI. XXXV. Fig. 3. 



