38 SHORE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



FAMILY SCOLOPACID^. SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



A very large family, numbering some 100 species, about 45 of which occur 

 in North America. 



GENUS PHILOMELA GRAY. 



PHILOMELA MINOR (Gme/.). 

 American Woodcock. 



Adult: Bill, long, corrugated near the end; upper parts variegated with tawny rufous, 

 brown and black; head, rufous brown, banded 011 the occiput with alternate bauds of black 

 and tawny brown; a line of black from the eye to the bill; a narrow patch. on the sides of the 

 lower head, blackish ; throat, pale rufous or rufous white ; under parts of the body, pale 

 rufous ; quills, brownish ; tail feathers, dusky, tipped with ash ; bill, pale brown, yellowish at 

 the base; legs, reddish; bill, light brown, paler and .yellowish at base. 



Length, 11 50; wing, 5.45; tarsus, 1.30; bill, 2.90 to 3.05. 



Common on the Atlantic coast, from the British Provinces to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, west to Kansas and Dakota, breeding throughout its range, but more 



