RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 353 



Snipes the number of feathers as well as their shape varies amazingly 

 in the different, and otherwise strikingly similar species. Some have it 

 of twelve, others of fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, and one even of twenty- 

 four feathers, a number before unheard of in any other bird whatsoever. 

 In all these groups the tail is nevertheless short, equal, or more or less 

 rounded. In both the groups of Snipes the first quill is the longest ; 

 but in the species of Woodcocks the quills vary in length and shape, 

 affording the same anomalies and useful marks as the tail-feathers in 

 the true Snipes. In the European Woodcock the primaries are of 

 equal breadth and the two first longest, while in the American the 

 three outer quills are very narrow, linear, and the fourth and fifth 

 longest. 



The females in this genus are similar in color to the males, but 

 larger, considerably so in the American Woodcock. They moult twice 

 in the year, but the present is the only one that varies much with age 

 or season. 



It will not be wronging any to call them all stupid birds, though the 

 present is less so : this only of its genus is gregarious, associating and 

 flying in numerous flocks. Like the Snipes, and contrary to the 

 Woodcocks, they do not dwell in damp woods or forests, but frequent 

 open marshy grounds and morasses : but unlike the Snipes, they pre- 

 fer the vicinity of the sea. They might indeed be called salt-water 

 Snipes, in contradistinction to the others, which are fresh-water Snipes. 

 Their flight is high, rapid, and irregular, having nothing of the heavi- 

 ness of the Woodcocks. The flesh of all these birds is exquisite food, 

 and much sought after. 



The Rustieola of Vieillot, which we adopt as a subgenus for the 

 Woodcocks, is distinguished, and even from most water birds, by the 

 want of nudity of the tibia, which is completely covered with feathers, 

 as in land birds. It contains but the two species alluded to, that are 

 closely allied, though they have specific traits that might constitute 

 genera in other cases. This shows the difiiculty in our science of 

 knowing where to seek for generic and specific traits in the different 

 groups. The two species of Woodcocks vary greatly in their respec- 

 tive habits, one being a summer, the other a winter visitant in tempe- 

 rate climates, and one of course retiring south, the other northward 

 from them. Some authors prefer for this group the name of Scolopax, 

 because it is to its type that the Greeks gave this name. 



Our subgenus Scolopax, of which we have published a monograph 

 in our Observations on the second edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, 

 is composed of nine or ten species, all of which, with their character- 

 istic details, will be carefully figured in our inedited Avork " Litho- 

 graphic Monography of obscure genera of Aquatic Birds." In these 



Vol. III.— 23 



