426 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Family SCOLOPACID^. The Snipes. 



Legs with transverse scutellaj before and behind ; toes not margined broadly to 

 the tips, with or without basal membrane; hind toe generally present; bill generally 

 longer than the head, the groove extending beyond the middle. 



Sub-Family Scolopacin^. 



Bill swollen at the end, and covered almost to the tip with a soft skin, the edges 

 only of the rather vaulted tip horny ; the end of the upper bill generally bent a 

 little over the tip of lower; the jaw-bone in typical genera finely porous, and per- 

 forated by vessels and nerves, imparting a high degree of sensibility to the bill, 

 enabling it to tind food in the mud; after death, the end of bill is usually pitted; 

 legs rather stout; the naked portion of the tibia much abbreviated ; the hind toe 

 well developed and generally present; the toes usually without basal membrane 

 (except in Macrorhamphus, &c.). 



PHILOHELA, G. R. Gray. 



Philohela, Gray, List of Genera (1841). Gmelin. (Type Scolopax minor.) 

 Body very full, and head, bill, and eyes very large; tibia short, feathered to the 

 joint; toes cleft to base; wings short, rounded; first three primaries very narrow, 

 and much attenuated ; the fourth and fifth equal and longest ; tarsi stout, shorter 

 than the middle toe; hind nail very short, conical, not extending beyond the toe; 

 tail of twelve feathers. 



The present genus, embracing a single species, the American Woodcock, is much 

 like Scolopax, with the European Woodcock as type, in color and external appear- 

 ance. The most striking difference is seen in the wing*, which are short, rounded, 

 the fourth and fifth primaries longest, and the outer three attenuated; while in Scolo- 

 pax the wings are long, the first primary longest and more attenuated. 



PHILOHELA MINOR. — G;-fl7/. 



The American Woodcock. 



Scolopax minor, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. (1812) 40. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 

 474. 



Rmticola minor, Nuttall. Man., II. (18.34) 194. 



Scolopax {micropfera) minor, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 194. 



Philohela minor, Gray. List Genera (1841). 



Description. 

 Bill long, compressed, punctulated and corrugated near the end; upper mandible 

 longer than the under, and fitted to it at the tip; wings moderate, three first quills 

 very narrow; tail short; legs moderate; eyes inserted unusually distant from the 



