WOODCOCK 



43 



touches the ground. The notion that there are two species of 

 Woodcock in this country probably originated from the great dif- 

 ference of size between the male and female, the latter being con- 

 siderably the larger. 



The male Woodcock is ten inches and a half long, and six- 

 teen inches in extent; bill a brownish flesh color, black towards 

 the tip, the upper mandible ending in a slight nob that projects 

 about one-tenth of an inch beyond the lower, each grooved, and 

 in length somewhat more than two inches and a half; forehead, 

 line over the eye and whole lower parts reddish tawny; sides of 

 the neck inclining to ash ; between the eye and bill a slight streak 

 of dark brown; crown from the forepart of the eye backwards 

 black, crossed by three narrow bands of brownish white ; cheeks 

 marked with a bar of black, variegated with light brown ; edges of 

 the back and of the scapulars pale bluish white ; back and scapu- 

 lars deep black, each feather tipt or marbled with light brown and 

 bright ferruginous, with numerous fine zig-zag lines of black cross- 

 ing the lighter parts ; quills plain dusky brown ; tail black, each 

 feather marked along the outer edge with small spots of pale 

 brown, and ending in narrow tips of a pale drab color above and 

 silvery white below; lining of the wing bright rust; legs and feet 

 a pale reddish flesh color; eye very full and black, seated high 

 and very far back in the head; weight five ounces and a half, some- 

 times six. 



The female is twelve inches long, and eighteen in extent; 

 weighs eight ounces ; and differs also in having the bill very near 

 three inches in length; the black on the back is not quite so 

 intense; and the sides under the wings are slightly barred with 

 dusky. 



* Mr. Pennant, (Aret. Zool. p. 463.) in describing the American Woodcock, says that the lower 

 mandible is much shorter than the upper. From the appearance of his figure it is evident that the 

 specimen from which that and his description were taken had lost nearly half an inch from the lower 

 mandible, probably broken off by accident. Turton and others have repeated this mistake. 



