364 Dr. A, Hall on the Mammals and Birds 



S. minor. "Woodcock. 

 Rusticola minor of Nuttall ! 

 Philohela minor. Baird ! 



v.s.p. Bill bluish black tinged with orange towards the base ; 

 legs and feet pale orange ; i rides dark hazel ; eggs 4, olivaceous 

 white blotched with yellowish brown. 



Dorsal aspect. Frontlet and crown as far as the centre of the 

 head cinereous tinted with pale rufous ; occiput and nuchal re- 

 gion black with three transversal narrow bands of rufous, the 

 lowest one tinged with cinereous, the remainder of the nuchal 

 region cinereous ; a line from the angle of the mouth to the eye 

 black ; cheeks and auriculars cinereous white, with irregular nar- 

 row wavy lines of black ; dorsal feathers and scapulars black bar- 

 red and tipped with bright chesnut ; the outer vanes of the outer- 

 most row of both wholly cinereous, thus causing four broad 

 streaks of cinereous down the back ; great and small wing coverts 

 with the secondaries dusky, barred with wavy zigzag lines of 

 blackish brown, cinereous, hnd pale chesnut; primaries dusky, 

 the outer vanes of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edged with whitish ; 

 rump black barred with bright chesnut in an irregular manner, 

 and tipped with cinereous ; central tail coverts black tipped with 

 chesnut ; the lateral ones bright chesnut with wavy lines of 

 black; tail round, jet black, with a subterminal narrow band of 

 chesnut, and broadly tipped with cinereous ; all the primaries 

 tipped with white. 



Ventral aspect. Chin white ; throat, sides of the throat, breast, 

 belly, vent and flanks rufous, tinted with cinereous on the sides 

 of the throat, pale on the belly and vent, and very bright on the 

 flanks ; tail coverts bright rufous, the lateral feathers tipped with 

 white ; tail jet black, with a broad terminal band of glossy white 

 corresponding with the cinereous tip of the dorsal aspect. 



3rd primary longest; 4th next ; 1st and 8th equal; the longest 

 scapulai-s subequal to the 3rd primary ; from the comparative 

 length of the primaries the wing is very much rounded. Length 

 12 J inches ; alar expanse 17 inches; length of bill 2| inches. 

 This bird though considerably smaller than the European bird, 

 has its bill of exactly equal dimensions. 



Suh genus Limosa. 



Sub gen. char. Bill longer than in the last sub-genus, straight, 

 more or less incurved from the centre, soft and flexible ; the nasal 



