SCOLOPACID/E: SNIPE. 805 



crosswise throughout ; size much superior. Of all Snipe-like birds of this country, loosely 

 called " Scolopax," this straggler from Europe is the only one to which the name is strictly 

 applicable. 



S. rusti'cula. (Lat. rustictis, a rustic; rusticida, a little countryman; wrongly spelled ms- 

 ticola by Linnaeus and the A. 0. U.) Eukopean Woodcock. Cockbird : Colors above 

 harmoniously blended and varied black, brown, chestnut, and yellowish-gray ; under ])arts 

 brownish-white, regularly wavy-barred throughout with dark brown. A dusky stripe from 

 bill to eye. Top and back of head brownish-black and brown, divided by three or four cross- 

 bars of brownish-white and brown. Each feather of upper parts chestnut and black, in varie- 

 gation, the black usually forming a large subterminal spot. Yellowish-gray tending to form a 

 scapular stripe on each side of back. Quills and coverts of wing blackish, pretty regularly 

 varied with dark chestnut bars, on the larger quills tliis chestnut paler and reduced to mar- 

 ginal indentations ; outer web of 1st primary plain whitish. Upper tail-coverts rich chestnut, 

 little varied with black, with pale tips. Tail-feathers black, with angular chestnut indenta- 

 tions of outer webs ; their tips gray from above, viewed from below glistening silvery-white. 

 Under parts brownish-white, more or less sufl'used with cliestnut-brown on breast, the regular 

 dusky barring only giving way on the whitish throat, changing to lengthwise streaks on under 

 tail-coverts. Hen: Unmistakably similar — substantially the same; grayer above, much of 

 the russet mottling of ^ replaced by hoary-gray. A much " better " bird than our Woodcock ; 

 a third larger; weight 12-15 oz. Over a foot long; wing 7.00 inches or more; tail 3.50; bill 

 not much hmger than in our Woodcock ; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw more. I describe 

 this species with particularity, and sportsmen who get a bird of this sort will do well to report 

 the fact at once. It was formally introduced to our fauna in the original edition of the " Key," 

 1872. There are occasional instances of its capture in this country, and it is entitled to a place 

 as a straggler from Europe, of which country it is the common Woodcock. See Lewis, Amer. 

 Sportsm. ed. of 1868, p. 169, footnote (New Jersey); Lawrence, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. X. Y. 

 1866, p. 292 (Rhode Island and New Jersey) ; Baird, Am. Journ. Sci. xli, 1866, p. 25 (New- 

 foundland) ; COUES, Am. Nat. x, 1876, p. 872 (Virginia). 



(§ 2. Snij^es.) 



OALLINA'GO. (Lat. gallina, a hen, whence galUnago, like virago from vir.) True Sxipe. 



Bill mucli longer than head, perfectly straight, soft to end, where somewhat widened, grooved 

 on top, vascular and sensitive, in dried state pitted; lateral grooves running more than half- 

 way to tip; gape narrow, not reaching beyond base of culmen. Ear imder eye. Tibiae feath- 

 ered not quite to the joint. Tarsus a little shcn'ter tlian middle toe and claw; toes perfectly 

 free, cleft to base, slender, and not fringed. Wings rather short and rounded (for this family), 

 less so than in Scolopax or Philoheht ; no primaries attenuate. Tail short, rounded, of 

 numerous (in our species normally J 6) feathers, of which the lateral are narrowed, all barred 

 crosswise. Sexes alike ; seasonal changes of plumage not pronounced. Numerous species of 

 all countries; one North American, and another straggling to Greenland and Benuuda from 

 Europe; a third accidental at Hudson's Bay. For indications of them all, see p. 7l>9. 



Analysis of Species. 



Tail-featherg Ifi ; the .3 outer pairs mostly wliite. Straggler only in N. Am major 



Tail-feathers 14. Straggler only in N. Am. 



Axillars and flanks wliite, incompletely or imperfectly barred with blackish r/allinago 



Tail-feathers IG ; the 3 outer pairs not mostly white. N. Am. at large. 



Axillars aiid flanks fully and regularly barred with wliite and blackish delicata 



€J. nia'jor. (Lat. major, greater, i. e. than the common Eurojiean G. gaUinago or G. media.) 

 (Jkeatek Snipe. Double Snipe. C'losely resembling the following two species; but easily 

 distinguished by the combination of 16 rrctriccs, of whicli the three lat«'ral pairs are narrow, 



