SNIPE AND SNIPE-LIKE BIRDS. 265 



usually alone, except at times of migration, among 

 the marsh growth, probing the mud for worms. 

 When approached he squats low, then springs up 

 almost from before one's feet with a startled cry, 

 and, with a peculiar rolling twist at the beginning 

 of his flight, usually mounts high, and makes oft 

 altogether from a small marsh, or comes down 

 at a distance on a larger one. Although able 

 to run sharply enough if they like, Snipe and Wood- 

 cock have been separated from the * Long-Billed 

 Running Birds ' because of their lethargic habit in 

 this respect. 



JACK SNIPE — 7^ inches. Besides being a much smaller 

 bird, lacks the buff band along the middle of the crown 

 of the Common Snipe. A winter visitor from September 

 to March, occurring in similar marshy places, but keep- 

 ing more to cover. When flushed it rises silently, 

 and with a fluttering flight drops into cover again at 

 once. 



WOODCOCK. — Plate 113. 14 inches. Upper 

 plumage ruddy -brown, finely mottled with gray 

 and black ; chin whitish ; all under parts brownish- 

 white, with fine, dark cross - bars ; bill slender, 

 nearly twice as long as the head, dusky-brown ; 

 large eye, set far back, dark brown ; feet grayish. 

 Resident. 



Eggs. — 4, yellowish-white, spotted and splashed, 

 principally at the larger end, with dark and light 

 red-brown and pale gray ; 1-75 x 1'3 inch (plate 133). 



Nest. — Merely a depression in the ground, with 

 addition of a few dead leaves. 



