by two bars of yellow wood-brown j each feather of the peek'
below, pale brown, edged, with dark brown ; the back greyish
brown, yaried with reddish brown, and dark umber-brown ;
all the wing-coverts reddish brown, with • open oval rings of
dark brown; primary quill-feathers blackish brown, with triangular
spots of. pale reddish brown along the margin of each
web; secondaries and tertials' of the same.ground colour,
blackish brown, but the light-coloured--,marks are more.elongated,
and extend, from the margin of the web to the shaft
of the feather; rump andmpper tail-coverts chestnut-brownr
tinged with grey and barred transversely with dark, brown ’r
tail-feathers black above, tipped--with pure dark-grey.;: ehiii
very pale yellow brown; neck in front, breast, and all the
under surface of the body,' wood-brown, tra'nsversely barred
with dark brown, both shades of brown on the under surface
becoming lighter in old birds; under wing-coverts pale
brown, barred with dark brown-; under surface of the quill*
feathers dry-slate grey, the triangular markings yellowish
grey; under surface of the tail-feathers nearly black, tipped
with delicate snow-white ; legs and toes livid brown, claws
black, .
The whole length about fourteen inches and a half. From
the carpal joint to the end of the wing, eight inches and .a
half; the second quill-feather the longest.
As in this family generally, the females of the Woodcock,
are larger than the males at the. same age;, the youngest
birds have the shortest beaks. Females have the upper part,
of the back more black, and the lower part of the back more
red, than males* |
Males have the forehead more, inclined to grey, with, the
chip white ; and the space above and-below the decided dark
brown mark from the beak to the eye much lighter in co-
lour, almost white, with the: small dark triangular speck at
the end of these light-coloured feathers better defined: the
bick, has more'- of the pale-brown and-grey, and the rump
^lbss of the- red, than ; but the* triangular mark#
on the' 'outers Wfeb*of ftke -first? q^p|^tMefe‘‘are' rather indi-
'Catibft^'Df youth than of ^se^f aii'd-are obliterated"' by- degrees*
and in succession, from ’ ends of the -feather^
' The weightbfra; Wao^lttfck, from its great variation, is a
matter Of inte|^#^ith^lieMatara]ist. ail Well asthe sportsman.
A ; young main bird of tfe i y e a ^ in October;; «will sometimes
%ei|h oMyt'sev'ehl' CuDceS1, an old-femtkld; will frequently weigh
foUrtee^^^teeb^ouncek^ ’ F am indebted 'tor' the »kindness
of Lord Brayferooke following particulars of some
' vf fy* large~bfl§ with p e r ' t o attach the
Statements Slfthis hdltohy. ?
“Copy o f^B iie r from’Lady-Peyton to’Miss Hoste, dated
FggCshalb Dec.jf^th, 1801.
The Wbcd^oek’whicfr Mr. Hoste
en^ufres^:a€feif,Vwas found sitting-bn ’a Very low branch of a
fir-tree in the long plantation f&t NarkOxoti^h^ about- eleven
obloCk-Mn the morning, bff James Crow the postillion, who
was exercising the %b^chLIlorse^..'‘ He came back with the
in te llig en e e& tb h o uS e , and- the keeper immediately went
out and shot the Woodcock« I saw it weighed^both in
scales and ^feel-yards, as did Sir Heupy^ and a carpentSt'at
vrork from Swaffham; and, wonderful aSf thfg weight may
appear, it was exactly twentyrseven ounces#;- T believe it was
about 1775 or 1770« Some years before that, a Woodcock
was killed at Hadleigh,, in Suffolk* which weighed twenty-
four ounces.** ?
“ Lady Peyton’s brother, the late Lord Stradbroke, then Sir
Johm-Rous, told me (Lord Braybrooke),. he recollected arriving
at Downham, Sir Henry Peyton’s «residence, twenty-
* The snow was deep, and the bird was resting on the brabch of a spruce-
fir, weighed down to the grbwndsv •
2 q 2