SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — HETEROSCELUS. 



289 



of equal size, but differ in the most marked manner as to their ground-color, and also 

 in the size and distribution of their spots. The ground-color is usually a deep drab, 

 with a slight rufous tinge ; occasionally, instead of rufous, the shading is decidedly 

 olivaceous ; in a feAV instances, however, the ground is very light and bright grayish 

 white with a slight tinge of green. The markings are usually of bistre ; intermixed 

 with the blotches of a pure shade are others washed over with the shadings of the 

 ground-color, giving them a neutral or slate-colored appearance. One egg (No. 651), 

 collected at Cape Charles, Va., June 5, 1856, measures 2.00 inches by 1.51. It has 

 a dark rufous-drab ground, marked with blotches of bistre. These are scattered 

 and few about the smaller end, but unite in a confluent ring around the larger por- 

 tion. Another (Xo. 115) was sent me by Mr. Andrew Downes, from Halifax, ISTova 

 Scotia. It measures 2.10 inches by 1.50. Its ground is drab, with a slight olivaceous 

 tinge, and the blotches are more scattered, and nowhere confluent, except on one side 

 near the widest portion of the egg is a remarkable combination of dark blotches, 

 1.00 inch by 0.61. A third (Xo. 976), collected at Cape Charles by the Eev. J. N. 

 Jones, measures 2.10 inches by 1.50. Its ground is a light gray — almost Avhite — 

 with a decided bluish tinge. Its spots are small fine dottings of dark bistre. Except 

 in shape, it has no resemblance to the usual egg of the Willet. 



Genus HETEROSCELUS, Baird. 



Heteroscelus, Baird, Bh'ds N. Am. 1858, 734 (type, Totanus b7'evi2>es, YiYAhL.,=Scolopax incana, 

 Gmel.). 



Char. Bill longer than head or tarsus, stout, much compressed ; commissure straight to near 

 end, where gently decurved ; culnien sliglitly concave in miildle portion ; nasal groove extending 

 over basal two-thirds of bill. Tarsi short (aljout equal to middle toe), covered laterally and behind 

 by hexagonal scales, the naked part of tibia covered with similar scales ; outer and middle toe con- 



H. incanus. 



nected by a basal web as far as first joint of the latter, and a rudimentary web between middle and 

 inner toes ; hind toe long (nearly one third the tarsus). Tail half as long as wings, nearly even. 

 Plumage perfectly uniform above, without spots or bands of any kind. 



This very remarkable Sandpiper differs, in the hexagonal scutellation of the tibia and on the 

 posterior face of the tarsus, from any other of the Totanece. The bill is stronger than in any Ameri- 

 can genus, except Symphemia, differing mainly from this in the straightness of the bill and greater 

 amount of inflection of the edges. The nasal groove extends farther forward, and the upper jaw 

 is a little more decurved at the end. The gape is a little more deeply cleft. The legs, espe- 



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