SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — GALLINAGO. 



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different parts of the country, sucli as " Mud-Snipe," '' Blind Snipe," " Big-headed 

 Snipe," and " Marsh-Plover." Its weight is never more than nine and a half ounces, 

 usually not more than seven, and very rarely as much as eight. The female is the 

 larger bird. The usual weight of the European Woodcock is fourteen ounces. 



The egg of the Woodcock is of a rounded oval shape, one end being more tapering 

 than the other ; it measures 1.50 inches in length by 1.14 in breadth. The ground is 

 a light buft'y cream-color, marked over the entire surface with fine dottings and 

 blotches of sepia-brown, intermingled with shadings of a neutral tint and brown, 

 washed with the buff of the ground, causing these spots to assume an opaque ashy 

 hue. 



Genus GALLINAGO, Leach. 



GalUnago, "Leach, Catal. Britisli Birds, 1816," Gray (type Scolopax major, L.). 



Char. Lower portion of the tibia bare of feathers, sciitellate before and behind, reticulated 

 laterally like the tarsi. Nail of hind toe slender, extending beyond the toe. Bill depressed at 

 the tip. Middle toe longer than tarsus. Tail with twelve to twenty-six feathers. Plumage the 

 same in winter and summer ; young like the adult in colors and markings. The more slender 

 body, longer legs, partly naked tibia, and other features, distinguish this genus from yicolopax and 

 Philohela, and the cleft toes from Alacrorhamjjhus. 



The species of GalUnago are quite numerous, about fifteen being recognized, this inmiber 

 nearly equally di-\dded between America and various portions of the Old World. Of the seven 

 American species, North America claims but tA^o, the common Wilson's Snipe, or, as it is perhaps 

 more popularly known, the " English Snipe," from its very close resemblance to the Common 

 Snipe of Europe, and the latter species, which has been taken in Greenland. With a few ex- 



G. Wilsoni. 



ceptions, the various species resemble one another very closely in colors and markings — so much 

 so in some cases, that it is necessary to resort to the rectrices in order to discover points of positive 

 difference. 



The single species peculiar to North America has usually .sixteen rectrices, of which the outer 

 is not notably narrower than the rest ; its nearest relative, the European G. ccelesHs, has usually 

 but fourteen tail-feathers, of which the outer pair are differently marked from those of G. TFilsoni ; 

 the several South American species possess from fourteen to eighteen rectrices, of which the outer 

 pair are very narrow. The two North American species may be distinguished as follows : — 



Com. Char. Tail with a sub-terminal band of rufous, succeeded by a black bar. Pileum black, 

 divided longitudinally by a line of pale buflP. Dorsal feathers black, broadly edged exteriorly 



