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SCOLOPACID, SNIPE, ETC. 249 
characteristics of the scolopacine bill. The gape, never ample, is generally very 
short and narrow, reaching little, if any, beyond the base of the bill. The nostrils 
are short narrow slits, exposed. The head is completely feathered to the bill 
* (except in one species), at the base of which the ptilosis stops abruptly, without 
forming projecting antiz. The wings commonly show the thin pointed contour 
described under Limicole, but they are occasionally short and rounded. The tail, 
always short and soft, has as a rule 12 rectrices; in one genus, however, there are 
from 12 to 26. The crura are rarely feathered to the suffrago. The tarsi are 
scutellate before and behind, and reticulate on the sides, except in the curlews, 
where they are scutellate only in front; they are probably never entirely reticulate 
(the normal state in plover). The hallux is absent in only two or three instances ; 
the anterior toes commonly show one basal web, and often two, but in many species 
they are entirely cleft. The scolopacine birds are of medium and small size, 
ranking with plover in this respect ; none attain the average stature of Herodiones. 
The general economy of these birds is similar to that of plover; a chief 
peculiarity being probably their mode of procuring food, by feeling for it, in the 
majority of cases, in the sand or mud with their delicately sensitive, probe-like bill. 
The eges are commonly four, parti-colored, pointed at one end and broad at the 
other, placed with the small ends together in a slight nest or mere depression on 
the ground ; the young run about at birth. The sexes, with very rare exceptions, 
are alike in color or nearly so, and the 9 is usually a little larger than the ¢ ; but 
the sexual distinctions are very rarely strong enough to be perfectly reliable (remark- 
able exception in gen. 218). Color distinctions with age, likewise, are rarely 
marked ; but on the contrary, seasonal plumages are, in many cases, as throughout 
the sandpipers, very strongly indicated, the nuptial dress being entirely different 
from that worn the rest of the year. Excepting a few species that frequent dry open 
places like many plover, these birds are found by the water’s edge where the ground 
is soft and oozy—in moist thickets, low rank meadows, bogs and marshes, by the 
Tiverside, and on the seashore. Some are solitary, but the majority are gregarious 
when not breeding, and many gather in immense flocks, especially during the 
extensive migrations that nearly all perform. The voice is a mellow pipe, a sharp 
bleat, or a harsh scream, according to the species. Few birds surpass the snipe in 
sapid quality of flesh, and many kinds rank high in the estimation of the sportsman 
and epicure. The family is cosmopolitan, but the majority inhabit the northern 
hemisphere, breeding in boreal regions. There are about ninety well-determined 
species of scolopacine birds, referable perhaps to fifteen tenable genera, although 
many more than this are often employed. Various attempts to divide the group into 
sub-families have met with little success, owing to the close intergradation of the 
several types. All the leading forms of the family, with most of the lesser genera, 
are represented in this country, and are indicated by the specific descriptions given 
beyond ; while its entire composition may be pointed out and rendered perfectly 
intelligible by a brief summary :— 
a. In woodcock (gen. 201-2) and true snipe (203) the ear appears below and 
not behind the eye, which is placed far back and high up; and if the brain be 
examined, it will be found curiously tilted over so that its anatomical base looks 
forward. The bill is perfectly straight and much longer than the head, deep-grooved 
to the very end, which is either knobbed, or widened just behind the tip, where 
there is a furrow in the flattened culmen. The membranous covering is abundantly 
supplied with nerves; this organ constitutes a probe of delicate sensibility, an | 
efficient instrument of touch, used to feel for food below the surface of the ground. 
KEY TO N. A. BIRDS. 32 
