woodcock: see snipe.

Woodcock, Leonard Freel, 1911-2000, American labor leader, b. Providence, R.I. In 1933 he went to work as a machine assembler at the Detroit Gear and Machine Co., where he joined a union that became a United Automobile Workers (UAW) local a few years later. He served (1947-55) as regional director for UAW in Michigan, and from 1955 to 1970 he was vice president of the union, in charge of the General Motors and aerospace departments. In 1970 he succeeded his mentor, Walter Reuther, as president of UAW, the second largest union in the United States. In 1977 he retired from the union and was named head of the U.S. liaison mission in Beijing. After playing a pivotal role in negotiating the establishment of full diplomatic relations with China in 1979, Woodcock served (1979-81) as ambassador. He later taught at the Univ. of Michigan.

Any of five species (family Scolopacidae) of plump, sharp-billed migratory birds of damp, dense woodlands in North America, Europe, and Asia. With eyes set far back on the head, a woodcock has a 360° field of vision. The buffy-brown, mottled plumage provides camouflage. A solitary bird, most active at dusk, it drums its feet to coax earthworms to the surface and then extracts them with its long, forceps-like bill; it may eat twice its weight in worms each day. The female American woodcock (Scolopax,or Philohela, minor) is about 11 in. (28 cm) long; the male is slightly smaller. The male's striking courtship display includes a long, repeated spiraling and dropping sequence. Woodcocks have been popular game birds.

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