Sub-fam. 3. _Scolopacinae._–_Macrorhamphus griseus_, the Dowitcher, breeding in the extreme north of North America, and its larger and brighter western race, _M. scolopaceus_, are rufous birds with darker variegations, the lower back and tail being white, but the latter and its upper coverts shewing blackish barring. The bill is widened towards the tip, while in winter the plumage is grey and white. One form or the other has strayed to Britain, Western Europe, and Eastern Asia, the range on migration reaching Brazil and Chili. The habits resemble those of Redshanks. _M. taczanowskii_, with black-mottled rump, occupies East Siberia, and winters in India, Borneo, and thence to China. _Scolopax rusticula_, the well-known Woodcock, brown, grey, and buff in colour, with blackish vermiculations and blotches above and bars below, has two transverse buff stripes on the black hind-crown. It inhabits Northern and Central Europe and Asia–with the Atlantic Islands and Japan–and migrates to the Mediterranean, Persia, India, Ceylon, and China, or even strays to eastern North America. Breeding freely in Britain, where large additional flocks arrive in autumn, it frequents leaf-strewn woods in which marshy spots or rivulets alternate with dry ground; the food consists of worms, small molluscs and insects, the first being {290}obtained by probing the soil with the long sensitive beak. The flight is rapid and steady, the note–not uttered when flushed–is whistling; while during incubation a curious habit prevails among the cocks of "roading" or traversing fixed routes at twilight, and uttering hoarse notes. The nest is a depression, usually lined with dry leaves; the four eggs, much larger and rounder than those of the Snipe, are creamy-buff with pale brown, grey, and lilac markings. The young are often carried by the parents between their thighs, the bill probably aiding to steady them. Woodcocks are now seldom snared or netted in England. _S. saturata_ of Java and North-West New Guinea is a darker bird with almost uniform black primaries, and a white abdomen with dusky bars. _S. rochusseni_ of the Moluccas has partly bare tibiae, like many Snipe, and a nearly plain buff breast. The Woodcock of eastern North America is _Philohela minor_, which has the three outer primaries curiously attenuated. [Illustration: FIG. 60.–Woodcock. _Scolopax rusticula._ × 2/7.]