| Woodcock | |
|---|---|
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| |
| American woodcock | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Scolopax Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Scolopax rusticola Linnaeus, 1758
| |
| Diversity | |
| 8 living species | |
The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of sandpipers in the genus Scolopax. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders.[1] The English name is first recorded in about 1050.[2] According to the Harleian Miscellany, a group of woodcocks is called a "fall".[3]
- ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 351. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ "Woodcock". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Lipton, James (1991). An Exaltation of Larks. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-30044-0.