432 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Family SCOLOPACID^. The Snipes. 



Legs with transverse scutellse before and behind ; toes not margined broadly to 

 the tips, with or without basal membrane; hind toe generally present; bill generally 

 longer than the head, the groove extending beyond the middle. 



Sub-Family Scolopacin^. 



Bill swollen at the end, and covered almost to the tip with a soft skin, the edges 

 only of the rather vaulted tip horny ; the end of the upper bill generally bent a 

 little over the tip of lower; the jaw-bone in typical genera finely porous, and per- 

 forated by vessels and nerves, imparting a high degree of sensibility to the bill, 

 enabling it to find food in the mud; after death, the end of bill is usually pitted; 

 legs rather stout ; the naked portion of the tibia much abbreviated ; the hind toe 

 well developed and generally present ; the toes usually without basal membrane 

 (except in Macrorhamphus, &c.). 



PHILOHELA, G. R. Gray. 



Philohela, Gray, List of Genera (1841). Gmelin. (Type Scolqpax minor.) 

 Body very full, and head, bill, and eyes very large; tibia short, feathered to the 

 joint; toes cleft to base; wings short, rounded; first three primaries very narrow, 

 and much attenuated ; the fourth and fifth equal and longest ; tarsi stout, shorter 

 than the middle toe ; hind nail very short, conical, not extending beyond the toe ; 

 tail of twelve feathers. 



The present genus, embracing a single species, the American "Woodcock, is much 

 like Scobpax, with the European Woodcock as type, in color and external appear- 

 ance. The most striking diflference is seen in the wings, which are short, rounded, 

 the fourth and fifth primaries longest, and the outer three attenuated ; while in Scolo- 

 pax the wings are long, the first primary longest and more attenuated. 



PHILOHELA ^mOB..— Gray. 



The American Woodcock. 



Scolapax minor, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. (1812) 40. And. Cm. Biog., III. (1835) 

 474. 



Rusticola minor, NuttaU. Man., 11. (1834) 194. 



Scohpax {microptera) minor, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 194. 



Philohela minor, Gray. List Genera (1841). 



Description. 

 Bill long, compressed, punctulated and corrugated near the end; upper mandible 

 longer than the under, and fitted to it at the tip ; wings moderate, three first quills 

 very narrow; tail short; legs moderate; eyes inserted unusually distant from the 



