330 Synopsis of the Birds 



and habits, to the other genera of the family. Connects 

 Scolopax with Totanus and Limosa. 



267. Scolopax grisea, Gm. Rump white ; tail banded with 

 black and white ; shaft of the first primary white. 



Summer dress, black varied with reddish and cinereous ; 

 eyebrows and breast reddish : winter, cinereous, beneath white. 



Red-breasted Snipe, Scolopax noveboracensis, Wils. Am. 

 Orn. vii. p. 48. pi. 58. Jig. 2. summer dress. 



Inhabits throughout North America : very common in the 

 middle states at its double passage : an accidental and very 

 rare visitant in the north of Europe. 



SUBGENUS II. SCOLOPAX. 



Becassine, Temm. Scolopax, Vieill. Gallinago, Steph. 



Feet moderate ; tibia partly naked ; all the toes cleft ; hind 

 nail projecting over the toe, acute. Tail of from twelve to 

 sixteen feathers. Young similar to the adult: do not change 

 in moulting. 



Colors a mixture of black, white, rufous, and cinereous. 



Solitary. Live in open marshes, on the borders of rivers, 

 fresh water pools, in damp, and sometimes even dry prairies; 

 always hiding in the grass, not perceived until started. Flight 

 high, very rapid, and irregular. 



Spread all over the globe, even some of the few species of 

 which it is formed. 



268. Scolopax wilsonii, Temm. (24.) Tail rounded, of six- 

 teen feathers, all barred with black at tip, the lateral half as 

 broad as the middle ones. 



Snipe, Scolopax gallinago, Wils. Am. Orn. vi. p. is.pl. 47. 



Inhabits North and South America : very common during 

 autumn in the middle states, where a few breed. Resembling 

 excessively S. gallinago, and S. Brehmii of the old conti- 

 nent : perhaps they form but a single species. 



