64: * SHORE BIRDS. 



black portions duller. Youug, differ from the last in having 

 the feathers of the back bordered with dull white and the 

 top of head finely mottled with the same. Downy young, yel- 

 lowish gray above, paler beneath, mottled and spotted above 

 with dusky with a median line on head of the same. Breed- 

 ing note, "/'«/" repeated many times at regular intervals a& 

 the bird both sits and flies ; alarm note, a series of harsh 

 screams. Flight, steady, not swift, wing-beats rather slow 

 and sweeping low, the head is held partly back but the legs 

 are fully extended, or in short flights are held dangling ; al- 

 though it often wades in water so deeply that it nearly floats, 

 it seldom swims ; a number will sometimes sit together in 

 the water occasionally moving the primaries up and down 

 with a fan-like movement while the secondaries are kept 

 motionless. Breeds from northern U. S., west of the Miss- 

 issippi Kiver, southward and in Fla., the Bahamas, and the 

 Antilles in late April and early May. Common ; very rare in 

 eastern U. S. north of Fla. ; arrives in Fla. about the middle 

 of March ; goes south in early Oct. 



C. WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. Scolecopaoidae. 



Birds of fresh water swamps and marshes ; bill, much 

 longer than Fig. 83. 



head, covered i>-^ 



with soft skin fe^^j ^^^^' " " — ^^^ g^i^^^^^iW 



sensitive near Wi^^^^ 



tip ( r o u g h- G, C, b, 1. 



ened by pits and wrinkled when dry, fig. 83), with it the 

 birds procure worms and similar animals by probing in mud 

 or soft earth ; in order to enable the birds to perceive dang- 

 er when the bill is buried to the base, the eyes are placed 

 far back in the head directly over the ears, figs. 85, 86; neck, 

 and wings, short, folding within the tip of the short, round- 

 ed tail ; legs, short ; toes, four, long, no basal webs ; plumage 

 the same at all seasons ; sexes, similar. All of the species 

 are well known game birds. 



