168 SCOLOPACID^E. 



is greenish-black, fading towards the tip to wood- 

 brown, and measures five inches in length ; the lores 

 are green ; the head, throat, and back of the upper 

 part of the neck, are pale hair-brown ; the feathers 

 margined with white, and giving a spotted appear- 

 ance ; on the fore part of the neck are two narrow 

 transverse bars, and a large irregular spot of white ; 

 lower parts of the neck, and the whole of the under 

 parts, of a hair-brownish colour, the margins of the 

 feathers having greenish reflections ; upper parts of 

 the body, wings, and tail, glossy olive-green, with 

 faint changeable reflections of purplish-red upon the 

 scapulars and wing-coverts ; legs and toes blackish- 

 green." 



SCOLOPACID^E. 



THE Scolopacidce^ typically represented by the Snipes 

 and Woodcocks, is well seen in our British list, by 

 a numerous series of forms and species, all extremely 

 interesting, and is, we believe, a favourite family 

 with almost every ornithologist. By far the greatest 

 proportion of them frequent extensive marshes, or 

 the shores and banks of our coasts and rivers, retir- 

 ing, for a time, to the inland moors or fens, to breed 

 and rear their young. A few only are partial to 

 woods and thick covers, where, however, they are to 

 be found in marshy glades, or the moist and more 



