106 GRALLATORES. SCOLOPAX. 



the upper one, which is sulcated for nearly the whole of its 

 length. 



Nostrils basal, lateral, placed in the commencement of the 

 furrow, linear and longitudinal, covered with a membrane. 



Wings having the first and second quills of nearly equal 

 length, and the longest in the wing. Legs slender. The 

 tibia? entirely plumed, or else naked for a short way only 

 above the tarsal joint. Feet four-toed ; three before and 

 one behind ; the former cleft to their origin, the latter short, 

 and resting on the ground only with its tip. 



By VIELLOT, and some other recent authors, the Wood- 

 cocks have been separated from the snipes, and a genus esta- 

 blished for them under the title of Ruslicola. The charac- 

 ter upon which this separation is founded rests, however, en- 

 tirely upon the tibia of one group being feathered down to 

 the tarsal joint, while in the other it is naked for a short 

 space above it. It must not be omitted that, in addition to 

 this peculiarity, the two groups differ also in their habits ; 

 the Woodcocks being (at least through the day-time), inhabi- 

 tants of the forests and thickest underwood, whilst the Snipes, 

 on the contrary, resort to exposed marshy districts and 

 moist meadow land. The distinctive character, however, 

 being of so slight a nature, I have determined (although an 

 advocate for generic division, wherever the difference of form 

 is such as to indicate a material difference of economy), to 

 retain them under the same generic title ; at least till some 

 other better marked character be recognised, upon which to 

 found the division. The mode of feeding, and quality of 

 their food, are nearly the same in both groups, consisting of 

 earth-worms and insects ; and, although the Woodcocks 

 pass the day in rest, and the retirement of close thickets, 

 they invariably, during night, repair to open glades and 

 meadows to seek their subsistence. Both groups are subject 

 to a double moult, but the change in spring is not different 

 from the usual plumage in the disposition of the colour and 



