practice which prevails, for did so until very lately; in Sean-
dinavia and Northern Germany, of shooting, the Woodcocks
on their arrival in spring when they “ rode,” to use the word
which is still employed in East Anglia.* A limited number
breed in Northern and Central Europe as far as Upper Italy,
and in the mountains which sweep round Austria downfto
Transylvania, as high up as the limit of tree-growth ; but in
the Pyrenees, and thé Iberian Peninsula, it js, as in tbærest
of Europe, principally a visitor bn migration, and in winter.
Enormous bags have been made in the woods along the
coast df f Epirus and Albania at that season.' / In the
Canaries, Azores, and Madeira, it v would appear to:‘be partially
resident.! Its' winter range can be traced along :the
northernî portion of. Africat to Egypt,. Palestine, and ; Asia
Minor ; in Persia'it is found at that season in the* large
gardens and plantations; and, viiitihgIndia regularlyibfetween
October' and February; it straggles tocCeylon and " Tenasserim.
The late A. Anderson found a nest containing four: harc^set
eggs Trom which his companion, Br.' Triphook, shot the
bird, on the 80th June, in Upper (Eumaon, at an elevation "of
10,000 feet (Str. Feath. 1875, p. 856)/and i t . seems*, probable
that it breeds, in other parts of the Himalayas. To
the north of the watershed it is found breeding in the mountains
about Lake Baikal, and the Bureja” mountains ; i l
breeds in Japan as far south- as FUsijan ; audit goès'döwn
to China.- As a! straggler it0 has-been jrebTbrded as-bccufring
at St. John’s, Newfoundland, on the '9thf January, 1862- and
n f ïNew'' Jersey; f also 'dn irYifginia;|- '
'- Many sportsmen believe that thesex^bf the Éf|oödé'éfek^can
be4determined~ by-the plumage-: the- examples which" havb'lthe
éxternal web of thébutér primary 'd’evbidf&IB^ t^ ^ lik è
which exhibit ^th^Mark-ings
are the females.' The late Mr/ Gould, however, who idylle
1 Full descriptions of this destructive Vnd"sliort"s^É'ted^o^^fe^ wticli,
Köwrèr/ seems to have possessed a fascination for a cërtkîn "class W sportsmen;
are to be found in Lloyd’s -works.
t-Lawrence, AmC-RfcYr* Iÿc.’ 'Nat. Hist. viii. p. 292 ; Baird/Am, fotóh.
Arts-and Sç.' <
Î Goues, Am. Nat. p. 2 ?2i -
course of his investigations dissected, measured, and weighed
many hundred individuals, stales that these toothdike markings
are absent in old birds of 'both sexes, although strongly-
marked in the -young; and he assents that neither; by plumage
nor by size can-the;sexes be distinguished with certainty.
He considers that there are two distinct races: oné: large
and grey, and'the other small and red, which generally keep
separate from each oofherrommigt£tio;ubut: on the whole: he
believes that the males have generally the shorter bilh the-
longer wing, and the .finer tail; while The rump is more *ed,
and the . barring's 'of the under- surface ' of the body more
distinct.* - 0 ■ .
'. The beak is dark brown at the point, pale reddish-brown
at» thé base, g and generally ahoüU threetdnches long ; the
irides dark'- brówn/-thél eye large, convex,) and prominent;
from the beak to--thé: eye a dark brown streak : the'colour
of the -plumage; of this ' bird -is-a mixture, principally, of
three shade's of;brown; namely, pale wood-brown, chestnut
brown, and dark urdber-brown; each feather- on thevuppér
suHace: of; the body contains: the -three'shades, but: so disposed.
asb to produce a * beautifully i variegated Appearance^
Therchèeksl palet wood-brown, spotted 'with dark brown r
the forehead to the [top of the head;. greyish--browi£;3
put and nape rich dark.brown, transversely divided^ into three
pearly equal: patches- by - two‘-bars of yellow wood-brown;
each feather of tha neck tbelöw pale -brown, -edged-with dark
brown / the back greydshrbrowny yaiiéd with.reddiih-broxfn;
and dark umber-brown ;- all .the wing-coverts reddish-brown,
with open oval rings of dark, brown; primary .quill-feathers
blackishrbrown; with triangular ispots^fipala reddish-brown
along the margin, of. each -web; secondaries' and' -tertialé of
the same ground-colour, - blackish-broi^n, > ^hte>;the dichts»
coloured marks are more elongated, and lextend ifrom <the
' margin of-.the »web ~to thé. shaft -of the. feather; rump. and
upper :fail-coyerts .chestnut-brown,tinged.::with. greyr/and
barred , transversely with | dark . brown ; tail-feathers i black
' above, tipped with pure dark: gray; chin very.-pale yehow.-r
“ * Bifdl'of Great Britaiii/rolATJ” ’'