396 CLASS XVI. 



Family VI. Longirostres s. Scolopacidix, SwAiNS. Bill mostly 

 elongate (in a few moderate), slender, soft. Nostrils placed in a 

 groove of bill. Feet with toes moderate, hallux mostly short, 

 raised, sometimes none. Wings rather long, with first quill mostly 

 longest of all. 



Longhills. — These birds form the most typical family of the order, 

 since the preceding family has some resemblance to the gallinaceous 

 birds. Most of the species of this family live on insects, for which 

 they feel, and seize them with their bill on or under the ground 

 or in the mud. It is remarkable that the snipes, the sandpipers 

 (Tringce) and the godwits [Lirnosce) are able to move the extremity 

 of the upper mandible separately, by which they are distinguished 

 from the genus Totanus, as Leisler first remarked (Temminck 

 Manuel d'Ornith. ll. p. 636). These birds can find worms and 

 insects under the mud or in the loose earth with their bill simply 

 by touch; to that end the tip of the bill is supplied with many 

 nervous filaments from the fifth pair which pass through small 

 bony cavities of the upper mandible. See Nitzsch in Meckel's 

 Archiv f. d. Physiol, ii. s. 369—380, in. s. 384—388. 



Scolopax L. (in part), Illig., Temm., Cuv. Bill elongate, 



slender, soft, somewhat round. Upper mandible with tip obtuse, 



produced beyond the lower, grooved from the base to beyond the 



middle part. Nostrils basal, linear. Eyes large, distant from the 



base of bill, placed towards the upper part of head. Feet moderate; 



tarsi scutellate anteriorly; anterior toes unequal, the middle toe far 



surpassing the lateral; hallux short, resting on its point. Tail 



short, rounded. 



The snipes. — Some species live in woods, others in fenny districts or on 

 moist meadows. They mostly feed exclusively on insects, worms and slugs ; 

 some add to these jjlauts and seeds, especially of species of grass {Scolo2:>ax 

 gallinula). In Holland they seldom brood, but are birds of passage, 

 which visit us in the spring and especially the autumn; they pass the 

 summer in northern countries. They moult twice in the year, but there is 

 no remarkable difference between the winter and summer plumage, neither 

 is there between the colour of the feathers of the two sexes and that of 

 young and old birds. 



a) With first, second and third primaries gradually longer, fourth and 

 fifth longest of all. 

 Sp. Scolopax microptera mihi, Scolopax minor Wilson, American Ornithology, 

 PI. 48, fig. 2, in North Ameiica ; very similar to the European woodcock, 

 but smaller. This species forms the genus Philohela of Geay. 



