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WOODCOCK (O. Eng. wude-cocc, wudu-coc...

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 798 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WOODCOCK (O. Eng. wude-cocc, wudu-coc, and wudu-snite)  , the Scolopax rusticula 1 of See also:ornithology, a See also:game-See also:bird which is prized both by the sportsman and for its excellence for the table . It has a See also:long See also:bill, See also:short legs and large eyes--suggestive of its nocturnal or See also:crepuscular habits—with mottled plumage of See also:black, See also:chestnut- and See also:umber-See also:brown, ashy-See also:grey, See also:buff and shining See also:white—the last being confined to the tip of the See also:lower See also:side of the tail-quills, but the See also:rest intermixed for the most See also:part in beautiful See also:combination . Setting aside the many extreme aberrations from the normal colouring which examples of this See also:species occasionally See also:present (and some of them are extremely curious, not to say beautiful), there is much variation to be almost constantly observed in the plumage of individuals, in some of which the richer tints prevail while others exhibit a greyer coloration . This variation is often, but not always, accompanied by a variation in See also:size or at least in See also:weight ? The paler birds are generally the larger, but the difference, whether in bulk or tint, cannot be attributed to See also:age, See also:sex, See also:season or, so far as can be ascertained, to locality . It is, notwithstanding, a very See also:common belief among sportsmen that there are two " species " of See also:woodcock, and many persons of experience will have it that, beside the See also:differences just named, the " little red woodcock " invariably flies more sharply than the other . However, a sluggish behaviour is not really associated with See also:colour, though it may possibly be correlated with weight—for it is quite conceivable that a ,See also:fat bird will rise more slowly, when flushed, than one which is in poor See also:condition . Ornithologists are practically unanimous in declaring against the existence of two " species " or even " races," and, moreover, in agreeing that the sex of the bird cannot be determined from its plumage, though there are a few who believe that the See also:young of the See also:year can be discriminated from the adults by having the See also:outer See also:web of the first See also:quill-See also:feather in the wing marked with angular notches of a See also:light colour, while the old birds have no trace of this " vandyke " See also:ornament . Careful dissections, weighings and measurings seem to show that the male varies most in size; on an See also:average he is slightly heavier than the See also:female, yet some of the lightest birds have proved to be cocks.' Though there are probably few if any counties in the See also:United See also:Kingdom in which the woodcock does not almost yearly breed, especially since a " See also:close See also:time " has been afforded by the legislature for the See also:protection of the species, there can be no doubt that by far the greater number of those shot in the See also:British Islands have come from 1 By See also:Linnaeus, and many others after him, misspelt rusticola . The correct See also:form of See also:Pliny and the older writers seems to have been first restored in 1816.by See also:Oken (Zoologie, ii. p . 589) . 2 The difference in weight is very See also:great, though this seems to have been exaggerated by some writers .

A friend who has had much experience tells us that the heaviest bird he ever knew weighed 164 oz., and the lightest 9 oz. and a fraction . 'Cf . Dr See also:

Hoffmann's monograph See also:Die Waldschnepfe, ed . 2, p . 35, published at See also:Stuttgart in 1887 . abroad,—mostly, it is presumed, from Scandinavia . These arrive on the See also:east See also:coast in autumn—generally about the See also:middle of See also:October —often in an exhausted and impoverished See also:state . If unmolested, they are soon rested, pass inland, and, as would appear, in a marvellously short time recover their condition . Their future destination seems to be greatly influenced by the state of the See also:weather . If See also:cold or See also:frost stop their See also:supply of See also:food on the eastern side of Great See also:Britain they See also:press onward and, letting alone See also:Ireland, into which the immigrant stream is See also:pretty See also:constant, often See also:crowd into the extreme See also:south-See also:west, as See also:Devonshire and See also:Cornwall, and to the Isles of Scilly, while not a few betake themselves to the unknown ocean, finding there doubtless a watery See also:grave, though instances are on See also:record of examples having successfully crossed the See also:Atlantic and reaching See also:Newfoundland, New See also:Jersey and See also:Virginia . With regard to the woodcock which breed in Britain, pairing takes See also:place very See also:early in See also:February and the eggs are laid often before the middle of See also:March . These are four in number, of a yellowish cream-colour blotched and spotted with reddish brown, and seldom take the pyriform shape so common among those of Limicoline birds .

The See also:

nest—always made on the ground amid trees or underwood, and usually near See also:water or at least in a See also:damp locality—is at first little more than a slight hollow in the See also:soil, but as See also:incubation proceeds dead leaves are collected around its margin until a considerable See also:mass is accumulated . During this season the male woodcock performs at See also:twilight flights of a remarkable See also:kind, repeating evening after evening (and it is believed at See also:dawn also) precisely the same course, which generally describes a triangle, the sides of which may be a See also:quarter of a mile or more long . On these occasions the bird's See also:appearance on the wing is quite unlike that which it presents when hurriedly flying after being flushed, and though its See also:speed is great the beats of the wings are steady and slow . At intervals an extraordinary See also:sound is produced, whether from the See also:throat of the bird, as is commonly averred, or from the plumage is uncertain . This characteristic See also:flight is in some parts of See also:England called " roading," and the track taken by the bird a " See also:cock-road." ' In England in former times See also:advantage was taken of this See also:habit to catch the See also:simple performer in nets called cock-shutts," which were hung between trees across the open glades or rides of a See also:wood . A still more interesting See also:matter in relation to the breeding of woodcocks is the fact, finally established on See also:good See also:evidence, that the old birds transport their newly hatched offspring, presumably to places where food is more accessible . The young are clasped between the thighs of the See also:parent, whose legs hang down during the operation, while the bill is to some extent, possible only at starting, brought into operation to assist in adjusting the load if not in bearing it through the See also:air.2 Woodcock inhabit suitable localities across the See also:northern part of the Old See also:World, from Ireland to See also:Japan, migrating southward towards autumn . As a species they are said to be See also:resident in the See also:Azores and other Atlantic Islands; but they are not known to penetrate very far into See also:Africa during the See also:winter, though in many parts of See also:India they are abundant during the cold weather, and reach even See also:Ceylon and See also:Tenasserim . The popular belief that woodcock live " by suction " is perhaps hardly yet exploded; but those who have observed them in confinement know that they have an almost insatiable appetite for earthworms, which the birds seek by probing soft ground with their highly sensitive and flexible bill.' This fact seems to have been first placed on record by See also:Bowles,4 who noticed it in the royal See also:aviary at See also:San Ildefonso in See also:Spain, and it has been corroborated by other observers, and especially by See also:Montagu, who discovered that See also:bread and See also:milk made an excellent substitute for their See also:ordinary food . They also do well on chopped raw See also:meat . The eastern part of See also:North See also:America possesses a woodcock, much smaller than, though generally (and especially in habits) similar to, that of the Old See also:continent . It is the Scolopax See also:minor of most authors; but, chiefly on See also:account of its having the outer three primaries remarkably attenuated, it has been placed in a See also:separate genus, Philohela .

Phoenix-squares

In See also:

Java is found a distinct and curiously coloured species, described and figured by Horsfield (Trans . Linn . Society, xiii. p . 191, and Zoolog . Researches, pl.) as S. saturate . To this H . Seebohm (See also:Geographical See also:Distribution of the See also:Family Charadriidae, p . 506) referred the S. rosenbergi of See also:Schlegel (Nederl . Tijds. v. d . Dierkunde, iv. p . 54) from New See also:Guinea . Another species is S. rochusseni from the See also:Moluccas ; this has, like the See also:snipe, the lower part of the See also:tibia See also:bare of feathers .

(A . N.) 1 The See also:

etymology and consequently the correct spelling of these expressions seem to be very uncertain . Some would derive the word from the See also:French roder, to rove or wander, but others connect it with the Scandinavian rods, an open space in a wood (see Notes and Queries, See also:ser . 5, ix. p . 214, and ser . 6, viii. pp . 523, 524) . Looking to the See also:regular routine followed by the bird, the natural supposition would be that it is simply an application of the See also:English word road . 2 Cf . J . E . Harting, Zoologist (1899), pp .

433-440, and Mr See also:

Wolf's excellent See also:illustration . See also:Sir R . See also:Payne-Gallwey, in the " See also:Badminton Library " (See also:Shooting, ii. p . 118, See also:note), states that he himself has witnessed the performance . ' The pair of muscles said by Loche (Expl . Scient. de l'Algirie, ii. p . 293) to exist in the maxilla, and presumably to See also:direct the See also:movement of the bill, do not seem to have been precisely described . 41ntroduccion a la historia natural y a la geografia fiscia de Espana, pp . 454, 455 (See also:Madrid, 1775) .

End of Article: WOODCOCK (O. Eng. wude-cocc, wudu-coc, and wudu-snite)
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