WOODCOCK, a bird in high favour with the sportsman and the epicure. It has a long bill, large eyes, and a mottled plum age of black, browns, greys, buff, and white, the latter confined to the tip of the lower side of the tail quills. There is much variation in the individual plumage, which is highly protective. The woodcock (Scolopax rusticula) breeds in suitable localities from Ireland to Japan, migrating southward in autumn, reaching India, Ceylon and northern Africa. It feeds largely on earth worms, which it gets by probing soft ground with its sensitive bill.
The nest is made on the ground, and the four eggs, laid during March, are yellowish in colour, blotched and spotted with reddish brown. During this season the male performs a remarkable flight
(called in England "roding"). At dawn and at sunset he flies in a great triangle, often a mile in perimeter, travelling fast by means of slow, steady wing beats, and uttering a drumming sound at intervals. The young birds are carried between the thighs of their parents to suitable feeding grounds.
In North America there is a similar but smaller woodcock, S. minor, having its three outer primaries attenuated.