713 



SCOLOPACIDoE. 



SCOLOPACID^E. 



Madeira. Barbary, Athens, Smyrna, Aleppo, Egypt, Cashmere, and 

 Japan, are other localities. 



It feeds on worms, small snails or slugs, and (according to Tem- 

 minck) small beetles ; but earthworms appear to be its favourite 

 nourishment. For thrse it bores with its long and sensitive bill with 

 unerring certainty. The Woodcock breeds occasionally, not to say 

 frequently, in thh country, in Scotland especially. The nest is placed 

 on the ground in a dry warm spot among herbage, and is loosely 

 fabricated of dead leaves, of the common fern principally, and unlined. 



Woodcock (Scolffpax rattKOla). 



The eggs, three or four in number, are pale yellowish-white, blotched, 

 and spotted at the larger end with ash-gray, and two shades of reddish- 

 yellow brown, according to Yarrell ; of a dirty yellow sprinkled with 

 small spots of pale brown, according to Temminck. When surprised, 

 the old birds have been known to carry off their young in their bills 

 and claws. 



We need hardly add that the bird, served with its trail in, is a 

 delicious dish. 



The Snipes belong to this section. Those most familiar to the 

 English sportsman and ornithologist are the Common Snipe, the Jack 

 Suipe, and the Solitary Snipe : Sabine's Snipe (S. Kabini) is of very 

 rare occurrence, and indeed the Solitary Snipe is far from common. 



S. C/allinayo, Linn., Gallinago scolopacintu, Bonap., the Common 

 Snipe. It is the Beccacino and Pizzarda of the Italians; Bccassinc, 

 or Be'casseau, and Chovre Volant, of the French ; Heer Schnepfe and 

 Himels Ziege of the Dutch ; Watersnep of the Netherlander ; My r 

 Snippe of the Icelanders ; Horsgjok of the Swedes ; Hoasegioeg of the 

 Danes; and Ysnittan y Fyniar of the Welsh. 



The normal number of tail-feathers is 14, varying to 16 (Brehm'g 

 Snipe) and 12 (Delamotte's Snipe). Upper parts variegated very 

 nearly as in the Solitary Snipe; neck and breast striped longitudinally; 

 ides striped transversely with white and blackish ; middle of the belly 

 and abdomen spotless, pure white ; base of the bill ash-colour, the rest 

 brown; feet pale-greenish ; length about 10J inches, of which the bill 

 measures about 2J inches. 



Head and Foot of the Common Snipe. 

 The colours of the plumage, after the spring moult, are brighter and 



more brilliant with bronze reflections than after the autumnal moult : 

 in winter the hue becomes more ashy. 



Varieties. Pure white; reddish- white; the feathers sprinkled or 

 blotched with white 1 , or some part of the plumage white. 



Mr. Gould (' Birds of Europe ') states that, although the contrary 

 has been long stated by naturalists, he conceives that the natural 

 range of the Common Snipe is comparatively limited ; and that the 

 Snipes from India, Africa, and North America, which have been 

 regarded as identical with our bird, will be found, on examination, to 

 be specifically distinct. 



The following localities have been given as the range of the Common 

 Snipe in Europe and Asia : Russia and Siberia, from Scona to Lap- 

 land, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, 

 Germany, Holland, British Islands, France, Spain, Provence, Switzer- 

 land, Italy, Hungary, and Illyria. 



Marshes, moist meadows, and, in frosty weather, the edges of rushy 

 rills, are the haunts of the Snipe. In such situations they have been 

 seen pushing their bills, by means of repeated thrusts, quite up to the 

 base in the mud, drawing them back with great quickness, and shifting 

 their ground every now and then. Their food consists of such worms, 

 insects, and small molluscs as haunt such miry places, and they have 

 been shot in the act of feeding on leeches. 



Few birds are better eating than a fresh Snipe. The old quatrain 

 says : 



" Lc becasseau cst do fort bon manger, 

 Duquel la chair resucille 1'appetit. 

 II cst oyseau passager ct petit : 

 Et par son goust fait des vina bien juger." 



' Snypes ' were among the birds admitted to the Earl of Northumber- 

 land's table (' Household,' 1512), and were then charged at threepence 

 a dozen. 



S. major (Oallinago major, Bonap.), the Solitary, Double, or Great 

 Snipe, is the Grand or Double Be'cassine of the French ; Beccacino 

 Maggiore, Pizzardone, and Croceolone, of the Italians ; Mittelschnepfe 

 and Doppelschnepfe of the Germans ; Poelsnep of the Netherlanders ; 

 Great Snipe, Double Snipe, and Solitary Snipe, of the English ; and 

 Ysnid of the Welsh. 



The tail is composed of 16 feathers ; midrib of the first quill whitish ; 

 the black of the top of the head divided by a band of yellowish-white ; 

 eyebrows of that colour ; upper parts variegated with black and bright 

 rusty, the last-named colour disposed longitudinally ; lower parts 

 whitish-rusty ; belly aud sides striped with black bands ; bill inclining 

 to reddish, brown at the point ; feet greenish-ash. (Temm.) 



The head-quarters of this bird is the north of Europe. 



In the British Islands the bird has been killed in Lancashire (the 

 specimen from which Pennant first described it, and which was 

 preserved in the Leverian Museum), and has been noticed as not 

 uncommon in Norfolk. It has been very rarely seen in Ireland. 



Solitary or Double Snipe (Scolopax major). 



Sir Humphry Davy, who notices the fact of this Snipe's breeding in 

 the great royal decoy or marsh-preserve near Hanover, says that they 

 require solitude and perfect quiet, and that, their food being peculiar, 

 they require a great extent of marshy meadow. They feed on the 

 larva; of Tipula (commonly called Father Long-Legs), or congenerous 

 flies ; and their stomach, the same author tells us, is the thinnest 

 among the Ncolopax tribe. 



The rude nest of the Double Snipe, which is very like that of the 

 Common Snipe, is generally placed on a hurnrnock or tuft of grass, or 

 a bunch of rushes on the borders of a swamp, often near willow bushes. 

 Eggs three or four in number, yellowish olive-brown, with great spots 

 of reddish-brown ; length, 1 inch 9 lines ; breadth, 1 inch 2 lines. 

 They breed in considerable numbers in the mountainous parts of 

 Norway and Sweden as high as the range of birch-woods extend. 



