Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/731

WOODCOCK usually with more than one entrance ; it passes the winter in the burrow, in a lethargic state. The food consists of various plants, fruits, and vegetables; they are especially fond of red WOOD DUCK 707 "Woodchuck (Arctomys monax). clover ; they frequently make their incursions at midday, posting sentinels; they are very vigilant, and their sense of hearing is remark- ably acute ; they are very cleanly, and are easily tamed ; they have five or six young at a birth ; they fight boldly, and are more than a match for a dog of equal size. The flesh is rank, but is sometimes eaten. WOODCOCK, a game bird of the snipe family. The American woodcock (philohela minor, Gray) is 11 in. long and 17 in. in alar extent; the body is stout, and the head, bill, and eyes very large ; the last are placed very far back ; the tibiae are short and feathered to the joint, and the toes cleft to the base ; wings short and rounded, with the first three primaries much American "Woodcock (Philohela minor). attenuated, and the fourth and fifth equal and longest ; tarsi stout, and nail of hind toe very short ; bill 2 in. long, the upper mandible the longest ; tail short. The upper parts are vari- egated with pale ashy, yellowish rufous of va- rious shades, and black ; on the hind head are three transverse black bands, alternating with three others of pale yellowish rufous ; a brown- ish black line from eyes to bill, and one below the eyes ; lower parts pale rufous, brightest on the sides. It is found all over eastern North America; it is nocturnal, keeping quiet by day unless disturbed by sportsmen; it fre- quents fresh- water marshes and the margins of streams, probing the mud and turning over the leaves in search of earth worms and larva). The sense of sight is very acute ; from the ra- pidity and irregularity of its flight it is difficult for an inexperienced marksman to kill it ; it is a great favorite with epicures, and is gener- ally served with the entrails in. They pair in spring, making a nest of dried leaves and grasses, in the woods, at the foot of a bush or fallen tree ; the eggs are four or five, If by 1^- in., dull yellowish clay-colored, with numer- ous patches of purplish brown ; the young run as soon as hatched. The European woodcock (scolopax rusticola, Linn.), la becasse of the French, found all over Europe, in N. Asia, and in Japan, is about 14 in. long, with long wings, the first primary being the longest; the plu- mage is like that of the American, being vari- ously mottled with yellowish and ruddy brown- ish black and gray ; the head is grayish in front, yellowish brown with transverse darker brown streaks behind. It is found in dry and high ground in summer, and in the woods and swamps in autumn. WOOD DUCK, or Summer Duck (aix sponsa, Boie), an American duck, with the bill very high at the base, shorter than the head, the up- per lateral angle running back much behind the lower edge ; nostrils very large, the feath- ers of the forehead reaching to their posterior TVood Duck (Aix sponsa). oue , nail very large and much hooked, occu- pying the entire tip ; head crested ; tail about half the length of the wings, wedge-shaped, truncated at the tip, the coverts nearly as long