SNIPES. 



10;-. 



tanks in t lie "Wanny" district, their niusicil notes rosoumlin!:;; nil <lay and all nii;lit 

 long through the )>iclun's<iue forests on their borders. These sounds are essentially 

 typical of the wild regions in the northern forests of this island, ami must always 

 associate themsclyes in the mind of the naturalist with his wanderings in Ceylon. 



The snii)es, sandpijiers, curlews, etc., form another and still larger family than t"he 

 ployers, being known as the Scolopacid.e, a group of considerable homogeneity, an<l 

 chiefly characterized by the long, thin, and flexible bill, which is coyered l>y a soft 

 skin, at the end richly 2"'ovided with neryes that make the bill a yery sensitiye probe 



Fui. 49. — Jacana spinoso, ja^nna, 



fit to detect in the soft mud and extricate the worms and animalcules upon which 

 they feed. Otherwise they agree pretty much with the Charadriida>, having a similar 

 pterylosis, and similar muscular and intestinal arrangements. Like those they also 

 possess occipital foramina, basipterygoid processes and supra-orbital impressions. 



Distributed all over the world, from the icy regions of the north jjole to the equa- 

 tor, the snijie tribe i>o|(ulates the sea-shores, the river-banks, the s\yamps and marshes, 

 while a few only — as, for instance, the woodcock — prefer the drier woodlands t«^ 

 moister localities near the water. 



