PHALAROPES. 373 



they leave the shell, but they are attended by their parents until their bills 

 have acquired sufficient firmness to enable them to provide for themselves. 



The Woodcock {Scolopax riisticolo), another well-known member of this 

 sub-family, is a native of the northern latitudes of Europe and Asia, but its 

 migratory range is very extensive. The favourite haunts of the woodcock are 

 woods, moist thickets, coarse brakes, glens, and similar localities, where they 

 remain concealed during the day, but as soon as it grows dark they resort to 

 moist meadows and swampy open grounds, where they search for slugs and 

 insects, but more especially worms, in pursuit of which they thrust their bills 

 into the soft moist earth, and draw their victims forth, probably detecting 

 their presence by the acuteness of their sense of smell. Their nest is a loose 

 structure, made of grass and leaves, in a depression among herbage and 

 thickets, near the root of a tree or bush. The eggs are usually four in number, 

 of a pale yellowish white, blotched and spotted at the larger end with ash grey 

 and two shades of yellowish brown. The return of the woodcock from our 

 latitudes towards the North takes place in March, and by the middle of April, 

 all, save a few that remain stationary with us, have disappeared. 



Sub- Family VI. 



THE PHALAROPES. PHALAROPODIN-4- . * 



General Characteristics.— Bill as long as or longer than the head, more or less 

 slender, and straight, the culmen straight, except at the tip, which is curved, the 

 sides of the upper mandible curved for nearly its whole length ; the nostrils placed 

 in the lateral groove, with the opening linear; the wings long and pointed; the tail 

 short and rounded; the tarsi short and more or less robust; the toes moderate, 

 united at the base, and more or less lobed on the sides to the tips, the hind toe 

 short, elevated, and margined slightly by a narrow membrane. 



These birds are inhabitants of the northern regions, but migrate 

 to more temperate dimates during severe winters. They are 

 usually seen in pairs or in small parties, swimming rapidly about 

 on the sea, or on lakes, ponds, and streams of fresh water, gene- 

 rally near the margins, in search of floating seeds, aquatic insects, 

 or small crustaceous animals, on which they subsist. They swim 

 with great facility and swiftness, and their flight is rapid and 

 elevated. 



In the Phalaropes the formation of the bill is nearly the same as 

 that of the Knot, but it is more depressed throughout its length, 

 and the tip comes to a sharper and more determinate point. The 

 general contour of the body is also similar to that of the tringas, 



* <pa\ap6s, phalaros, -ca/ii/c; novs, pous, a/oc?i: white-footed. 



