SCOLOPAX.
Bill long ; ear opening under anterior edge of orbit ; legs feathered to heel-joint; nest in woods in depression, eggs 4, creamy buff or dark stone, marked and blotched with purplish grey and dark brown ; nocturnal in habits; frequent damp wooded districts.
Scolopax rusticola rusticola L. Wooncocx. Fr. I36casse ; Ger. Waldschnepfe ; Ital. Beccaccia ; Swed. Morkulla.
j 9 Above chestnut, mottled and barred with black or grey ; beneath buff barred brown. Bill brown, tip darker. Legs and
feet greyish flesh. Wing 185-205. Tarsus 36-38. Bill 69-80.
Breeds.—British Isles ; Continental Europe from 70° in Scandinavia and 66° in Russia south to Pyrenees and N. Balkans ; and across N. Asia. Winters in Mediterranean Basin, N. Africa, and S. Asia to China and Japan. Resident Madeira, Canaries, and Azores, and at all seasons found in British Isles.