Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/690

Rh 650 w o o w o o woods, with patterns of extreme richness and minute elaboration. The doors of the temple at Somnauth, on the north-west coast of India, were especially famed for their magnificence, and were very highly valued as sacred relics. In 1024 they were carried off to Ghuznee by the Moslem conqueror Sultan Mahmoud, and are now lying in the fort at Agra. The gates which still exist are very fine specimens of ancient wood-carving, but they are probably only copies of the original very early doors. 1 In many parts of India wood-carving of the most beautiful kind is largely used for architectural purposes, especially for the enrichment of the wooden framework of houses, and for forming delicate open lattices for windows. In the main, however, the native carvers of India excel rather in richness of effect and minute delicacy of work manship than in general gracefulness of line and purity of design. In these respects the wood-work of Moslem carvers in India is very far superior to that of the Hindus. In China and Japan the wood-carvers are absolutely unrivalled in technical skill ; grotesque and imitative work of the most wonderful perfection is produced, and some of the wood-carvings of these countries are really beautiful as works of art, especially when the carver copies the lotus lily or other aquatic plants. In many cases, however, as in the other arts of Japan and China, extreme ugliness of design is combined with the most perfect execution and exquisite finish, and the carvers have very little notion of the really decorative treatment of surface reliefs. The extensive use of wood or bamboo for archi tectural purposes creates a wide field for the wood-carver, whose very limited sense of true beauty is to some extent made up for by his wealth of grotesque fancy and extreme deftness of hand, which are the main characteristics of the workmen of China and Japan in all branches of art. Wood-Carving of Savage Races. Many savage races, such as the Maoris and Polynesians, are very skilful in the decorative treatment of wood in slight relief. Intricate geometrical designs of much beauty and suitability to the material are used to decorate canoes, paddles, and the beams of huts. Great richness of effect is often produced by the smallest possible amount of cutting into the surface of the wood. The wooden architecture of the Maoris is sometimes decorated in the most lavish way. The main uprights of the walls are carved into grotesque semi-human monsters, enriched with painting and inlay of iridescent shell, which show much imaginative power. Other beams are carved with series of spirals, bearing much resemblance to the very early sculptured ornaments of Mycenae, Tiryns, and other Hellenic cities, one of the many examples which show that very similar stages of artistic develop ment are passed through by men of the most different races and age. In many cases the freshness of invention and freedom of hand shown in the carved ornament of savage races give a more really artistic value to their work than is usually found in the modern laboured and mechanical carving of highly civilized people. In modern Europe decorative wood-carving shares the general low level of the lesser arts. The commercial spirit of the age, and the general desire to produce the utmost display with the smallest cost and labour, have reduced the art of wood-carving to a very low state. See Williams, History of the Art of Sculpture in Wood, London, 1835; for practical information see Bemrose and Jewitt, Manual of Wood-Carving, London, 1862; Rogers, Art of Wood-Carving London, 1867; and Lacombe, Manuel de la, Sculpture sur Bois Pans, 1868. (J&amp;gt; H . M ) WOODCOCK (A.-S., Wude-cocc, Wudu-coc, and Wudu- smte), a bird as much extolled for the table, on account 1 See art. ELLENBOBOUCH for an account of the recent historjTof these celebrated doors. They are illustrated in Archseologia, xxx. of its flavour, as by the sportsman, who, from its relative scarcity in regard to other kinds of winged game, 2 the uncertainty of its occurrence, as well as the suddenness of its appearance and the irregularity of its flight, thinks himself lucky when he has laid one low. Yet, under favourable conditions, large bags of Woodcocks are made in many parts of Great Britain, and still larger in Ireland, though the numbers are trifling compared with those that have fallen to the gun in various parts of the European Continent, and especially in Albania and Epirus. In England of old time Woodcocks were taken in nets and springes, and, though the former method of capture seems to have been disused for many years, the latter was practised in some places until nearly the middle of the present century (cf. Knox, Game-birds and Wild Fowl, pp. 148-151) or even later. The Woodcock is the Scolopax rusticula 3 of ornithology, and is well enough known to need no minute description. Its long bill, short legs, and large eyes suggestive of its nocturnal or crepuscular habits have over and over again been the subject of remark, while its mottled plumage of black, chestnut- and umber-brown, ashy- grey, buff, and shining white the last being confined to the tip of the lower side of the tail-quills, but the rest intermixed for the most part in beautiful combination could not be adequately de scribed within the present allotted space. Setting aside the many extreme aberrations from the normal colouring which examples of this species occasionally present (and some of them are extremely curious, not to say beautiful), there is much variation to be almost constantly observed in the plumage of individuals, in some of which the richer tints prevail while others exhibit a greyer coloration. This variation is often, but not always accompanied by a variation in size or at least in weight. 4 The paler birds are generally the larger, but the difference, whether in bulk or tint, cannot be attri buted to age, sex, season, or, so far as can be ascertained, to locality. It is, notwithstanding, a very common belief among sportsmen that there are two &quot;species&quot; of Woodcock, and many persons of experience will have it that, beside the differences just named, the &quot;little red Woodcock&quot; invariably flies more sharply than the other. However, a sluggish behaviour is not really associ ated with colour, though it may possibly be correlated with weight for it is quite conceivable that a fat bird will rise more slowly, when flushed, than one which is in poor condition. It may suffice here to say that ornithologists, some of whom have taken a vast amount of trouble about the matter, are practically unanimous in declaring against the existence of two &quot;species&quot; or even &quot;races,&quot; and moreover in agreeing that the sex of the bird cannot be deter mined from its plumage, though there are a few who believe that the young of the year can be discriminated from the adults by having the outer web of the first quill-feather in the wing marked with angular notches of a light colour, while the old birds have no trace of this &quot;vaudyke &quot; ornament. Careful dissections, weighings, and measurings seem to shew that the male varies most in size; on an average he is slightly heavier than the female, yet some of the lightest birds have proved to be cocks. 5 Though there are probably few if any counties in the United Kingdom in which the W T oodcock does not almost yearly breed, especially since a &quot; close time &quot; has been afforded by the legislature for the protection of the species, there can be no doubt that by far the greater number of those shot in the British Islands have come from abroad, mostly, it is presumed, from Scandinavia. These arrive on the east coast in autumn generally about the middle of October often in an exhausted and impoverished state. Most of them seem to cross the sea by night, and at that season it is a brutal practice for men to sally forth and slaughter the helpless and almost starving wanderers, who are often found seeking refuge in any shelter that may present itself. If unmolested, however, they are soon rested, pass inland, and, as would appear, in a marvellously short time recover their condition. Their future destination seems to be greatly influenced by the state of the weather. If cold or frost stop their supply of food on the eastern side of Great Britain 2 In the legal sense of the word, however, Woodcocks are not &quot;game,&quot; though Acts of Parliament require a &quot; game licence &quot; from those who would shoot them. 3 By Linnasus, and many others after him, misspelt rusticola. The correct form of Pliny and the older writers seems to have been first restored in 1816 by Oken (Zooloyie, ii. p. 589). 4 The difference in weight is very great, though this seems to have been exaggerated by some writers. A friend who has had much experience tells us that the heaviest bird he ever knew weighed 16 oz., and the lightest 9 oz. and a fraction. 5 Cf. Dr Hoffmann s monograph Die Waldschnepfe, ed. 2, p. 35, published at Stuttgart in 1887.