68 THE WOODCOCK AND BRITISH SNIPE IN CEYLON, 



been sufficient to make them thoroughly, acquainted with 

 its plumage. 



Dimensions. "Wing, from carpal joint 8 in. Bill at front 

 nearly 315; tarsus 1*4; mid toe 2" its claw 0*3 hind toe 5. 



Soft Parts. Not having seen the bird in the flesh,I 

 am compelled to quote from Dr. Jerdon's Birds of India, 

 " Bill fleshy grey ; legs livid ; iris dark brown." 



Description. Lores, chin and sides of forehead greyish 

 fulvous, top of head and occiput dark sepia brown, barred 

 and tipped with rich fulvous tawny, a darkish line running 

 down the forehead to base of bill ; a broad sepia brown line 

 from gape to eye ; above, general aspect of plumage dark 

 sepia brown and ferruginous, the back and wing coverts 

 being barred with the latter and the interscapulars, sca- 

 pulars and tertials mottled marginally and indented with 

 the same ; interscapulars, and scapulars tipped and crossed 

 with rich buff mostly on the outer webs, and with the dark 

 markings on the inner webs black ; greater wing coverts 

 barred with buff ; lower back and upper tail coverts more 

 narrowly barred than the adjacent parts; quills dark hair 

 brown, spotted marginally with buff and barred with 

 ferruginous on all but the first and second, which are 

 only edged and indented with white, and with buff respec- 

 tively ; tail black, marginally spotted with rufous and 

 broadly tipped smoky grey, which shows white beneath ; 

 under surface fulvous tawny, narrowly barred with brown ; 

 under wing coverts the same, the tawny ground color 

 darker than elsewhere beneath. 



The woodcock, as far as Asia is concerned, breeds 

 and spends most of the year in the north of the continent, 

 and migrates in October to the Himalayas and wooded 



