LIMICOLK— CHARADKIID.E 287 



SCOLOPAX. 



Bill long ; ear opening under anterior edge of orbit ; legs 

 feathered to heel-joint; nest in woods in depression, eggs 4, 

 creamy buff or dark stone, marked and blotched with 

 purplish grey and dark brown ; nocturnal in habits ; frequent 

 damp wooded districts. 



Scolopax rusticola rusticola L. Woodcock. Fr. 

 Becasse ; Go: Waldschnepfe ; Ital. Beccaccia ; Swed. Morkulla. 



$ ? Above chestnut, mottled and barred with black or grey ; 

 beneath buff barred brown. Bill brown, tip darker. Legs and 

 feet greyish flesh. Wing 185-205. Tarsus 36-38. Bill 69-80. 



Breeds. — British Isles ; Continental Europe from 70^" in 

 Scandinavia and 66' in Russia south to Pyrenees and N. Balkans ; 

 and across N. Asia. Winters in Mediterranean Basin, N. Africa, 

 and S. Asia to China and Japan. Resident Madeira, Canaries, 

 and Azores, and at all seasons found in British Isles. 



Gallinago. 



Differs from "Scolopax" in eye being less displaced back- 

 wards, ear opening below middle of orbit ; legs feathered to 

 lower part of tibia ; frequent damp districts ; largely nocturnal 

 feeders; eggs in a depression in ground, pyriform, greenish 

 buff, spotted and blotched with dull purplish grey and dark 

 umber brown. 



Gallinago gallinago gallinago (L.). Common Snipe. 

 Fr. liccassine ; Gcr. Gemeine Sumpfschnepfe ; Ital. Beccacino 

 reale ; Sivcd. Enkelbcckasin. 



^ $ Above black mottled and barred rufous with broad longi- 

 tudinal streaks of reddish buff on outer webs of scapulars ; crown 

 black with three reddish buff stripes ; tail 14 feathers, basal part 

 black, terminal part red brown with black anteapical band and 

 buff tips ; beneath white, throat, neck and breast buff streaked 

 brown ; flanksbuff barred brown. There is considerable variation, 

 some being greyer, others more rufous, and a melanism (" G. 

 sabiiiii") occurs in British Isles. liill blackish brown, lighter 

 below. Legs and feet greyish green. Wing 123-140. 9 usually 

 the larger. Tarsus 31-34. Bill 63-70. 



