WOODCOCK AN D W OODCOCK S II O 0 TING. 
The American Woodcock, Scolopax minor, or, as it has 
been subdistinguished by some naturalists, from the pecu¬ 
liar form of its short, rounded wing, the fourth and fifth 
quills of which are the longest, Microptera Americana , is, 
as the latter title indicates, exclusively confined to this 
hemisphere and continent. It is much smaller than its 
European namesake, being very rarely killed exceeding 
eight or nine ounces in weight, and sixteen inches in ex¬ 
tent from tip to tip of the expanded wings; whereas the 
European cock, averages full twelve ounces, being often 
found up to fifteen, and measures twenty-five or twenty- 
six inches. 
In general appearance and color they bear a consider¬ 
able affinity each to the other; the upper plumage of both 
being beautifully variegated, like the finest tortoise-shell, 
with wavy black lines on a rich brown ground, mottled in 
places with bright f.iwn color and ash-gray; but the breast 
and belly of the American bird are of a deep fulvous yellow, 
darkest on upper part and fading to a yellowish white at 
the vent, while its European congener has all the lower 
parts of a dull cream color, barred with faint dusky 
waved lines, like the breast feathers of some of the 
falcons. 
It has generally been believed that the large cock of the 
Eastern continent is never found in America; and all 
analogy would go to strengthen that belief, for neither of 
the birds range on their respective continents very far to 
the northward, whereas it is those species only which ex¬ 
tend into the Arctic regions, and by no means all of them, 
that are common to the two hemispheres. Some circum¬ 
stances have, however, coinc recently to my knowledge 
which lead me to doubt whether the large woodcock of 
the Eastern hemisphere does not occasionally find its way 
to this continent, although it is difficult to conceive how 
it should do so, since it must necessarily wing its way 
across the whole width of the Atlantic, from the shores of 
Ireland or the Azores, which are, so far as is ascertained, 
its extreme western limit. 
A very good English sportsman resident in Philadelphia, 
who is perfectly familiar with both the species and their 
distinctions, assures me that during the past winter a 
friend brought for his inspection an undoubted English 
woodcock, which he had purchased in the market; it 
weighed twelve ounces, measured twenty-five inches 
from wing to wing, and had the cream-colored barred 
breast which I have described. The keeper of the stall 
at which this bird was purchased did not know where it 
had been killed, but averred that several birds had pre¬ 
viously been in his possession, precisely similar to this in 
every respect. It is not a little remarkable that the same 
gentleman who saw this bird, and unhesitatingly pro¬ 
nounced it an European cock, was informed by a sporting 
friend that he had seen in Susquehanna county a cock, 
which he was satisfied must have measured twenty-five 
inches in extent, but which he unfortunately missed. 
There is likewise, at this time, in the city a skull and bill 
of a woodcock of very unusual dimensions, of which I 
am promised a sight, and which, from the description, I 
am well nigh convinced is of the European species. 
It is possible that these birds may have been brought 
over and kept in confinement, and subsequently escaped, 
and so become naturalized in America; and yet it is ditli- 
3 
