WOOD'COCS, the popular name of certain birds commonly regarded as of the same genus with the snipes (q.v.), but of more bulky form than the true snipes, and having •shorter and stronger legs. The CoststoN WOODCOCK (scolopax rusticola), well known as a game-bird in Britain, and highly esteemed as a delicacy for the table, is found also in all parts of Europe and the n. cf Asia. It is one of the birds of Japan. It is only a winter visitant of most parts of Britain, very rarely breeding in England, but it more frequently breeds in the northern parts of Scotland. Its summer haunts are chiefly the pine-forests of the northern parts of Europe and Asia; but in summer it Inhabits higher and drier ground than in winter, when it is chiefly to be found in moist woods and swamps, seeking for worms, nails, and slugs as food, boring with its long bill in the soft ground. The quantity of food which it devours is very great; a single woodcock has been known to consume in a nig'at more earth-worms than' hal f filled a garden-pot of moderate size. The woodcock is about 13 in. in length; the upper parts varied with ruddy, yellowish, and ash color. finely intermingled, and marked by large black spots. the, lower parts yellowish-red, with brown zigzag lines; the quills striped with red and black on the outer edge; the tail-feathers tipped with gray above and white below. The female is %tiler stouter and larger than the male, and sometimes attains a weight of 14 or 15 ounces. A woodcock of 27 ounces is on record. The woodcock makes its nest in dry situstions, on the ground, of dead leaves loosely laid together. It lays only
three or four eggs of a pale yellowish or reddish-brown color. As woodcocks usually breed in very dry situations in the recesses of thick woods, the young ones would be Left to starve but for the peculiar adaptation which enables the parent to transport them to moist feeding-grounds. It was long believed that the female woodcock used only her feet for carrying her young from place to place; but Mr. Charles St. John, in his Natural History and Sport in Moray, says, that from close observation he found " the old woodcock carries her young, even when larger than a snipe, not in her claws, which sewn quite incapable of holding up any weight, but by clasping the little bird tightly between her thighs, and so holding it tight toward her own body." The woodcock feeds chiefly by night. Great numbers sometimes appear in some parts of Britain, in their migrations. Besides falling to the gun of the sportsman, they are sometimes caught by nets placed in the tracks or open glades in woods, by which they proceed from their retreats to their feeding grounds, and by nooses or springs set about the places which they frequent.—The AMERICAN WOODCOCK (scolopax or philohela minor) is a smaller bird than the woodcock of Europe, being only about 11 in. long; very similar in plumage and habits. Three transverse black bands mark the hinder part of the head. It is found in all parts of North America, and is greatly esteemed for the table.