WOODCOCK. 
175 
the same degrees do not restrict them; thus, we 
have the Woodcock extending even beyond the 
Arctic Circle,* and breeding in Austria, Siberia, and 
Silesia. In an opposite direction, they reach the 
Italian States, Smyrna, f and some parts of the 
African coast. They are seen at Madeira ;J and 
Mr. Yarrell states, that the “ Zoological Society 
have received notices of our Woodcock having 
been obtained at Cashmere ; and Dodah, near Cash- 
mere,” is given by another authority. § We possess 
specimens from India, which we understood came 
from the alpine districts, the only variation being 
a greater preponderance of rufous marking the plu- 
mage. It is also found in Japan.|| In the catalogue 
of the Sumatran and Javanese specimens, collected 
by Sir Stamford Raffles, it is stated, “ There is a spe- 
cimen in the Sumatran cabinet, nearly allied to the 
British Woodcock, which remains to be examined.” 
The Woodcock is the largest known species of 
the genus, weighing from nine to eleven ounces. 
The colours vary in intensity in different birds, the 
prevailing tint in some being of a yellowish-grey, in 
others of a reddish almost sienna-brown. The fore- 
head, until in a line with the eyes, is grey ; and 
immediately succeeding, across the crown and nape, 
there are four bands of rich blackish-brown, the 
two first very marked and distinct, and all separated 
by a narrow bar of yellowish or reddish- white ; from 
* Yarrell. f" Strickland. J Heineken. 
§ G. T. Vigne, Esq., Annals of Nat. Hist. viii. p. 225. 
11 Temminck. 
