FAM. XXXIX. SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 237 



P. Wing, 10-12; bill, 5-8^ (very young, 2^5) ; axillars^ rich, dark 



buff, usually without any bars 27. Long-billed Curlew. 



P. Wing, 8i-10J ; bill, 2i|-4i; axillars barred. .28. Hudsonian Curlew. 

 P. Wing, 7f-8] ; bill, 2-2|^ ; axillars barred 29. Eskimo Curlew. 



1. American Woodcock (228. Philbhela mhior). — A common, 

 muddy-woocl-liviug, long-billed, short-legged, much-mottled, 

 brown snipe, with eyes 

 far back on the head, 

 and the back of the 

 crown with two dark 

 cross stripes ; the three 

 outer primaries are ab- 

 ruptly shorter than the 

 fourth and are pecul- 

 iarly narrow and stiff. 

 The soft muddy places 

 where these game birds 

 get their food by the 

 use of their long, pli- 

 able, sensitive bills are 

 usually in or near woody tracts. These birds are particularly 

 noted for their nocturnal, spiral flights in the air, which have 

 been called " sky dances." They migrate by night to places 

 where soft ground is to be found. 



Length, 11; wing, 5^ {^-^) ] tail, 2\ ; tarsus, \\ ; culmen, 2^-3. 

 Eastern North America, north to the British Provinces and w^est to Kan- 

 sas ; breeding throughout. The European Woodcock (227. Scolopax 



rusticola) is a larger 

 bird, but similar in ap- 

 pearance. It does not 

 have the three narrow- 

 outer primaries. Wing, 

 7-8 ; culmen, 3-3|^. Ac- 

 cidental in eastern North 

 America. 



2. Wilson's Snipe 



(230. GaUinclgo deli- 



WUson's Snipe cdto). — A common 



American Woodcock 



