SCOLOPAX. GALLINAGO. 165 



Scolopax rusticula. WOODCOCK. 



Scolopax Rusticol a, Linnaeus, S. N. i. p. 243 



(1766). 



Scolopax rusticula, Naum. viii. p. 361. 

 Rusticola sylvestris, Macg. iv. p. 386. 

 Scolopax rusticola, Hewitson, p. 348 ; Gray, p. 175 ; Yarr. 



ed. 2, iii. p. 1 ; id. ed. 3, iii. p. 1 ; Gould, iv. pi. 77 ; 



Harting, p. 50; Dresser, vii. p. 615. 

 The Woodcock, Yarr. ed. 1, ii. p. 583. 



Eusticula = a little Heath-cock in Pliny, H. N. x. 38, 54 ; 

 little countryman, in Cicero, Sest. 38, 82. Diminutive of rusticus = of or 

 belonging to the country, rus. Linnaeus seems to have mistaken the word ^ * 



cf. H. T. Wharton, ' Ibis,' 1879, p. 453. <?*V &f> &&& %&&&&* // 



Common in winter throughout the British Islands, morfe !& 

 especially in the west of England and in Ireland, much less 

 abundant in summer ; but it breeds regularly in many coun- 

 ties. A Palsearctic species, occurring also in winter in India 

 and Ceylon, and occasionally straggling to North America. 



Genus GALLINAGO, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. & Birds in 

 Brit. Mus. p. 31 (1816). 



Gallinago, from galllna = a Hen, feminine of an obsolete adjective gallimis, 

 from gallus = a Cock. The termination is adjectival, as if from *gallinax, 

 like virago from *virax. 



Gallinago major. GEEAT SNIPE. 



Scolopax major, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 661 

 (1788). 



Scolopax major, Naum. viii. p. 291 ; Macg. iv- p. 364 ; 



Hewitson, p. 351 ; Yarr. ed. 2, iii. p. 18; id. ed. 3, iii. p. 24. 

 Gallinago major, Gray, p. 172; Gould, iv. pi. 78; Harting, 



p. 51 ; Dresser, vii. p. 631. 

 The Great Snipe, Yarr. ed. 1, ii. p. 597. 



Major = greater ; comparative of magnus = great. 



A straggler to the British Islands. Breeds in Northern 

 and North-eastern Europe, and migrates in winter to Africa, 

 occurring as far south as Natal ; also found in Northern Asia, 



