( 200 ) 
pointed ; tail short ; tarsus longish ; toes of fair length, outer and 
middle toes webbed ; hind toe raised and small, absent in a few 
species. They might be considered among the smaller sized birds. 
Famity SCOLOPACID.E 
Comprise, the True Snipe, Godwits, Sandpipers, Curlews and 
Stints. Bill long, slender, having a soft sensitive tip in some of the 
groups ; wings and their tertiary feathers lengthened ; tail short ; 
tarsus fairly long; toes a little webbed. Feathers are more or less 
brown in colour, above, white beneath. They are divided into the 
following Sub-families :— 
I. Scolopacine, True Snipes; II. Limosine, Godwits; II. Nwmen- 
ine, Curlews; IV. Tringine Stints; V. Phalaropine, Coot-footed 
Stints ; VI. Totanine, Sandpipers, Green and Red-shanks. 7'ringine, 
bills short, Nuwmenine bills curved, Godwits and Avoset Sandpipers 
bills up tilted. Soft at the point in Snipe, Sandpipers ete. hard. 
Sup-Famity SCOLOPACIN AL (Snipes) 
Bill long, sensitive, straight, soft and blunt at the tip; plumage 
richly marked. 
(867) ScoLopax RUSTICOLA, /Wood-cock, some difficulty will be ’ 
experienced in discovering this bird owing to its seclusive habits. 
Usually it is found in dense unfrequented forests. | Wood-cock 
builds its nest at high altitudes. It descends to outskirts of 
Darjeeling, and the district to about 1000 or so feet below, 
when the cold weather approaches. When cry of the Wood-cock is 
heard, you can be sure that winter in Darjeeling, is fairly on. This 
bird differs from snipe in being larger in size, and built on stronger 
lines ; tibia is feathered to the knee ; bill long, thin and soft, blunt 
and sensitive at the tip; wings long and pointed, Ist quill the 
a 
