WHITE-TAILED SNIPE. 617 



WHITE-TAILED SNIPE. 



(Scolopax leucurus, Swains. North. Zool. ii. p. 501. Appendix.) 

 Sp. Charact. — Tail of 16 feathers : the 3 lateral ones pure white, 

 with 2 to 3 basal black bands on the outer webs : the belly trans- 

 versely banded. 



A single specimen of this bird in fine and perfect plumage, 

 exists in the British Museum, from Hudson's Bay. 



Length 10^ inches ; the tail 2 inches 2 lines ; the wing 5 inches 4 

 lines; the bill above, 2 inches 5 lines; the tarsus nearly the same 

 length. The plumage the same with S. Drummondii and S. Wilsonii, 

 except that the belly is barred with blackish-grey, with 2 or 3 bars 

 on each feather. The 3 or 4 outer pairs of tail feathers vdiite, with 

 one or two irregular blackish bars near the bases of the outer webs : 

 the 3 central pairs black, with a broad ferruginous bar near the end, 

 separated from the narrow white tip by a black line. Bill and legs 

 brownish. Tail considerably rounded ; the 3 outer pairs of feathers 

 diminishing successively in breadth, but not much ; the outer ones 

 havinar about three-fourths of the breadth of the middle ones. 



Subgenus. — Glottis. (Genus of, Nilsson.) 



With the bill thick and strong; the mandibles a little recurved, 

 straight and almost equal at the point : the middle and outer toe 

 united by a short membrane. 



The food of these birds consists principally of fry and small bi- 

 valve shell-fish. They chiefly dwell on the borders of rivers and 

 fresh-water lakes. 



