[3] The genus Scolopax was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

Woodcocks have stocky bodies, cryptic brown and blackish plumage, and long slender bills.

They feed at night or in the evenings, searching for invertebrates in soft ground with their long bills.

[6][14][11] The range of breeding habits of the Eurasian woodcock extends from the west of Ireland eastwards across Europe and Asia preferring mostly boreal forest regions engulfing northern Japan, and also from the northern limits of the tree zone in Norway.

Nests have been found in Corsica and there are three isolated Atlantic breeding stations in Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands.