. British birds with their nests and eggs . inches), tapering, light brown,darker at the tip; eye very large (indicating a habit of feeding at night), andvery far back in the head; iris dark brown; the plumage of the head and upperparts a delicate mixture of wood-brown, burnt umber, and hair-brown, (Itake these exact tints from Ridgways Nomenclature of Colours, a book whichought to be better known), and black, disposed in exquisite mottlings; a darkbrown line from bill to eye; primaries dark brown, with chestnut saw-toothmarkings on the outer web, except on the first primary, which has a narro
. British birds with their nests and eggs . inches), tapering, light brown,darker at the tip; eye very large (indicating a habit of feeding at night), andvery far back in the head; iris dark brown; the plumage of the head and upperparts a delicate mixture of wood-brown, burnt umber, and hair-brown, (Itake these exact tints from Ridgways Nomenclature of Colours, a book whichought to be better known), and black, disposed in exquisite mottlings; a darkbrown line from bill to eye; primaries dark brown, with chestnut saw-toothmarkings on the outer web, except on the first primary, which has a narrow cream-white outer margin instead ; tail feathers black, narrowly barred with chestnut,and with broad ash-grey tips which are white underneath; under parts fawn-brown,finely barred with darker brown; feet and legs yellow-brown. Length 13J-14Jinches, wing 7^-8^. English bred birds are thought to be smaller, as a rule, andredder above than foreign migrants, and more mottled with black on the resemble the males exactly. ■^7^^. uou QOO The Woodcock. °5 Young birds have the outer margin of the first primary barred with chestnutsaw-teeth like the rest, are more distinctly barred on the lower back and tail-coverts, and the legs and feet are of a darker and dingier brown. Nestling, fawn colour, with a broad chestnut bar down the spine from bill totail boidered with cream colour; a black line through the eye. The nest is usually placed on a drier hillock in a wood where the trees arenot very high or thick; often at the foot of a young Scotch fir, or other tree. Ihave found about thirty nests in Northumberland, and take some credit for onlypossessing one egg, which was an addled one. The nest is a mere hollow in themoss, a few dead leaves (oak-leaves, frequently) being added as incubation pro-gresses. I cannot say whether male or female takes exclusively the duty ofincubation, or both conjointly, never having handled a Woodcock shot in thebreeding season. But for some ti
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
