THE WOOD-COCKS. 205 



THE SNIPES. SUB-FAMILY SCOLOPACIN^. 



The Snipes, with which are associated the Wood-cocks, are 

 principally distinguished from the Plovers by having no webs 

 to the toes, which are cleft to the actual base. The tarsus is 

 not reticulated, but is transversely scaled or plated, both before 

 and behind. The bill is long and soft, and the nasal groove is 

 produced along the greater part of the upper mandible. The 

 plumage is in every case marbled or mottled to an extreme 

 degree. 



The bill of the Snipe is somewhat soft, and the birds possess 

 a peculiar power of being able to elevate the distal extremity 

 of the tipper mandible. Dr. Shufeldt believes that "this 

 achievement, taken in connection with ths extreme sensitive- 

 ness of the end of the upper beak in these birds, enables them 

 both to quickly detect and seize their food in the soft ooze 

 wherein they probe for it." 



THE WOOD-COCKS. GENUS SCOLOPAX. 



Scohpax, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766). 

 Type, S. rusticula (Linn.). 



The Wood-cocks belong to the long-billed section ot the 

 Snipes, in which the culmen is longer than the tarsus. They 

 have a large eye, which is placed far back in the head, so that 

 its hinder-margin is just above the orifice of thj ear. The 

 wing is more rounded than in the Snipes, the long, inner 

 secondaries not reaching to the primaries. The tail-feathers 

 are twelve in number and the tibia is feathered to the tarsal 

 joint. 



I. THE WOOD-COCK. SCOLOPAX RUSTICULA. 



Scolopax rusticula^ Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 243 (1766); Dresser, 

 B. Eur. vii. p. 615, pi. 540 (1877) ; B. O. U. List Brit. B. 

 p. 165 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. Yarrell's Brit. B. iii. p. 320 

 (1883); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 231 (1885); 

 Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 553 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. 

 Brit. B. part viii. (1888) ; xiv. (1890). 



Rusticola sylvestris, Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 386 (1852). 

 (Plate LXXXV.} 



