LAND-BIRDS. 



which are never longer than the head. In size they vary from 

 small to medium (7 to 12 inches); the plumage undergoes 

 many variations owing to season and age, but the sexes are 

 nearly alike. The neck is short, the head bullet-shaped, and 

 the body usually stout ; the wings are longer than the tail. 

 They are generally seen in flocks during the migrations, as 

 the majority of species breed far north. They fly and run 

 with great rapidity, and inhabit dry uplands, as well as the 

 vicinity of ponds, and the seashore. They all have pleasing 

 call notes, and one species has a melodious, piping whistle. 



Family Scolopacidae : Sandpipers, Snipes, etc. Page 236. 

 11 Species. 



Another large family, inhabiting inland meadows as 

 well as salt marshes and the seashore, including Wood- 

 cock and Snipe, both well-known Game-birds (that probe 

 for their food in the mud with their bills), and the less 

 familiar Sandpipers. Bills not Pigeon-shaped; slender ^ usu- 

 ally longer than the head. Plumage mottled and streaked 

 with neutral tints and sober colours. Voices peculiar, vary- 

 ing according to the species. 



Snipe are among the most delicately flavoured of Game- 

 birds, and Sandpipers comprise the smallest of the Waders. 

 The Snipe group may be easily distinguished from the 

 rest by the plain, unbarred tail. The Tattlers are a long- 

 legged, noisy species, not probing for their food in the mud, 

 but picking it up in the vicinity of flats and sand bars. 



ORDER PALUDICOL^ : RAILS, GALLINULES, COOTS. 



Family RalliddB : Rails. Page 245. 



5 Species. 



"Birds of medium and small size, generally with com- 

 pressed body and large, strong legs, enabling them to run 

 rapidly and thread with ease the mazes of the reedy 

 marshes to which they are almost exclusively confined; 

 while, by means of their long toes, they are prevented from 



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