American Woodcock T-Shirt
American Woodcock T-Shirt
Size & fit
Comfort Colors 1717. Relaxed fit, true to size; size down for a closer fit.
| Size | Chest width (in) | Length (in) |
|---|---|---|
| S | 18 ¼ | 26 ⅝ |
| M | 20 ¼ | 28 |
| L | 22 | 29 ⅜ |
| XL | 24 | 30 ¾ |
| 2XL | 26 | 31 ⅝ |
| 3XL | 27 ¾ | 32 ½ |
| 4XL | 29 ¾ | 33 ½ |
Measured flat: chest across, 1 in below the armholes; length from the high shoulder. Compare with a T-shirt you own and like.
Each shirt is garment-dyed after it is sewn, so the colour can vary slightly from shirt to shirt.
The timberdoodle, bog-sucker, mud snipe: long bill, barred crown, eyes set far back.
The shirt
- Comfort Colors 1717: heavyweight 100% ring-spun cotton, garment-dyed and pre-shrunk.
- The full plate on the back; a detail from it on the left chest.
- Wash cold, inside out; tumble dry low. Don't iron over the print.
Shipping & production
Each shirt is printed for you after you order. Most orders are printed and on their way within 2–5 business days; delivery time depends on the shipping method you choose at checkout. Shipping is shown at checkout before you pay.
Returns
If your shirt arrives damaged, misprinted or defective, contact us within 30 days of delivery with a photo and we'll send a replacement or a refund. Because every shirt is printed to order, we can't accept returns or exchanges for size or a change of mind, so please check the size chart above before ordering.
Plate 012
From the book
- Species
- Scolopax minor
- As named in the book
- Woodcock; Philohela minor.
- Artist
- J. L. Ridgway
- Book
- Second Annual Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests of the State of New York, 1897
“…eyes inserted at an unusual distance from the bill.”
Then and now
Those high-set eyes give it nearly all-round vision while it probes for worms.
Field notes
Its eyes moved so far back that its brain turned upside down.
The 1896 New York game report didn't waste words on the woodcock's looks. It noted that the eyes are "inserted at an unusual distance from the bill" and listed its names: bog-sucker, mud snipe, blind snipe. Most people who know it best say timberdoodle.
Those eyes are the key to the bird. A woodcock feeds by pushing its long bill deep into soft ground for earthworms. Head down, it's exposed, so its eyes sit high and far back, giving it nearly all-round vision while the bill is buried. The rearrangement went deep: its brain is essentially upside down compared with other birds'.
In the hand it looks like an evolutionary joke. In the air in April it's anything but. At dusk the male calls peent from a clearing, then spirals two or three hundred feet up on twittering wings and tumbles back down singing. Aldo Leopold called it the sky dance.