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432 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
FAMILY SCOLOPACIDZ. THE SNIPES. 
Legs with transverse scutelle before and behind; toes not margined broadly to 
the tips, with or without basal membrane; hind toe generally present; bill generally 
longer than the head, the groove extending beyond the middle. 
Sub-Family ScOLOPACINE. 
Bill swollen at the end, and covered almost to the tip with a soft skin, the edges 
only of the rather vaulted tip horny; the end of the upper bill generally bent a 
little over the tip of lower; the jaw-bone in typical genera finely porous, and per- 
forated by vessels and nerves, imparting a high degree of sensibility to the bill, 
enabling it to find food in the mud; after death, the end of bill is usually pitted; 
legs rather stout; the naked portion of the tibia much abbreviated; the hind toe 
well developed and generally present; the toes usually without basal membrane 
(except in Macrorhamphus, &c.). 
PHILOHELA, G. R. Gray. 
Philohela, Gray, List of Genera (1841). Gmelin. (Type Scolopax minor.) 
Body very full, and head, bill, and eyes very large; tibia short, feathered to the 
joint; toes cleft to base; wings short, rounded; first three primaries very narrow, 
and much attenuated; the fourth and fifth equal and longest; tarsi stout, shorter 
than the middle toe; hind nail very short, conical, not extending beyond the toe; 
tail of twelve feathers. 
The present genus, embracing a single species, the American Woodcock, is much © 
like Scolopax, with the European Woodcock as type, in color and external appear- 
ance. The most striking difference is seen in the wings, which are short, rounded, 
the fourth and fifth primaries longest, and the outer three attenuated; while in Scolo- 
pax the wings are long, the first primary longest and more attenuated. 
PHILOHELA MINOR. — Gray. 
The American Woodcock. 
Scolopax minor, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. (1812) 40. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. (1835) 
474. 
Rusticola minor, Nuttall. Man., IT. (1834) 194. 2 ait 
Scolopax (microptera) minor, Nuttall. Man., II. (1884) 194. 
Philohela minor, Gray. List Genera (1841). 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bill long, compressed, punctulated and corrugated near the end; upper mandible 
longer than the under, and fitted to it at the tip; wings moderate, three first quills 
very narrow; tail short; legs moderate; eyes inserted unusually distant from the 
