246 WOODCOCK. 



WOODCOCK. {Scolopax minor.) 



PLATE XLVIII.-Fig. 2. 



Arct. Zool. p. 463, No. 365.— Turt. Syst. 396.— Lath. Syn. iii. 131. 



RUSTICOLA MINOR— Vieillot.* 



Rusticola minor, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. 242. — Great Eed Woodcock, Scolopax 

 Americana rufa, Bart. Trav. p. 292.— Scolopax rusticola minor, Bonap. 

 Synop. p. 331. — Monog. del Gen. Scolopax Osser. Sulla, 2d ed. del Beg. Anim. 

 Cuv. 



This bird, like the preceding, is universally known to our 

 sportsmen. It arrives in Pennsylvania early in March, some- 



* Among many natural groups, such as Scolopax of Linnaeus, there 

 are gradations of form which have not been thought of sufficient im- 

 portance to constitute a genus, but have been mentioned as divisions 

 only. Such is the case with the present, which is generally classed 

 under those with the tibiae feathered and the tibiae bare. Vieillot, 

 following this division, proposed Rusticola for the woodcocks, or those 

 with plumed tibiae ; and, as far as artificial systems are concerned, and 

 facility of reference, we should prefer keeping them as a sub-genus. 



The woodcocks, in addition to the plumed tibiae, differ in other 

 respects ; and an individual, technically unacquainted with ornithology, 

 would at once pick them out from the snipes from a something in their 

 tourneur, as Mr Audubon would call it. The tarsi are much shorter, 

 and sbow that the bird is not intended to wade, or to frecpient very 

 marshy situations, like the snipes. They are all inhabitants of woods, 

 and it is only during severe storms that they are constantly found near 

 a rill or streamlet. Their food is as much found by searching under 

 the fallen leaves and decayed grasses as in wet places ; and in this 

 country, where woodcocks are abundant, they may be traced through a 

 wood by the newly scratched-up leaves. There is a marked difference, 

 also, in the plumage ; it is invariably of a more sombre shade, some- 

 times the under parts are closely barred with a darker colour ; while, 

 in the snipes, the latter part is oftener pure white. We have a beautiful 

 connection between the divisions in the Scolopax Sabini of Vigors,* 

 Avhich, though of the lesser size of the snipes, has the entire plumage of 

 the woodcock, and also the thighs feathered to a greater length down- 

 wards. 



The species are few in number, amounting only to three or four. 

 America, Europe, and India seem as yet their only countries. The 

 habits of most agree, and all partially migrate from north to south to 

 breed. — Ed. 



* Is this the Scolopax Sakhalina of Vieillot, Nouv. Diet ?— Ed. 



