woodcock

Etymology

From Middle English wodecocke, wode-koc, wodekok, from Old English wudecocc, wuducoc, equivalent to wood + cock.

noun

1. Any of several wading birds in the genus Scolopax, of the family Scolopacidae, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage.
   "[A]h, that was the woodcock and the goatsucker - yes, yes! it sounds strange to him, that hasn't heard him[.]" 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 286
2. A simpleton.
   "Now will that silly woodcock make such a report of what I have said to his chosen friend," observed Sir Robert to his companion when my Lord Cobham was out of hearing[…] 1838, Nathan Drake, Belletristical Works, volume 1, page 215