AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 
101 
The male woodcock is ten inches and a half long*, 
and sixteen inches in extent ; bill, a brownish flesh 
colour, black towards the tip, the upper mandible 
ending’ in a slight knob, 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 scapulars, deep black, each feather tipt or 
marbled with light brown and bright ferruginous, with 
numerous fine zigzag lines of black crossing 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 colour 
above, and silvery white below ; lining of the wing, 
bright rust ; legs and feet, a pale reddish flesh colour ; 
eye, very full and black, seated high and very far back 
in the head ; weight, five ounces and a half, sometimes 
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. 
The young woodcocks of a week or ten days old are 
covered with down of a brownish white colour, and are 
marked from the bill along the crown to the hind head, 
with a broad stripe of deep brown ; another line of the 
* Mr Pennant, ( Arctic Zoology , 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. 
