THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 65 



portion of the United States southward to the West Indies and 

 the northern portion of South America. 



FAMILY SCOLOPACID^: SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 



Genus PHILOHELA Gray, 1841. 

 Philofcela minor (Gmelin). American Woodcock. 



Scolopax minor GMELIN, S. N., I, ii, 1788, 661. 

 Philohela minor GRAY, Genera of Birds, 1841, 90. 

 Popular synonyms: BOG-SUCKEB. MUD-SNIPE. BUND SNIPE. 



Formerly a common summer resident. It is chiefly nocturnal, 

 spending the daytime in the low, damp thickets or heavy growths 

 of willows. In the spring it arrives from about the last of 

 March to the middle of April, and departs in September. It 

 nests the last of April, and its eggs are remarkably large for the 

 size of the bird. Though nests and eggs of the Woodcock are 

 still occasionally found within our limits, the settling of the 

 country with homes and factories, and above all the selfish zeal 

 of collectors and hunters are rapidly driving this interesting bird 

 from our vicinity. 



Its range covers eastern North America as far west as 

 Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and north to the British Posses- 

 sions. Its breeding range is coincident with its geographical 

 range. 



Genus GALUNAGO Leach, 1816. 



Gallinago delicata (Ord), Wilson's Snipe. 



Scolopax gallinago WILSON, Amer. Orn., VI, 1812, 18, pi. 47, fig. 1 



(nee Linnaeus). 



Scolopax wilsoni TEMM., PI. Col., V, 1824, livr. LXVIII (in text). 

 Gallinago wilsoni BONAPABTE, 1838. 



Scolopax delicata OBD, Wilson's Orn., IX, 1825, p. ccxviii. 

 Gallinago delicata RIDGWAY, in A. O. U. Check List, 1886, 148, No. 



230. 



Gallinago gallinaria (Gmelin) var. wilsoni TEMM., of some authors. 

 Popular synonyms : AMERICAN SNIPE. COMMON SNIPE. ENGLISH 

 SNIPE. GUTTEB SNIPE. JACK SNIPE. 



A common spring and fall migrant. There are no recent 

 records of this species having nested within our limits. It is 

 known to have nested not far from our area, and according to 

 both Mr. E. W. Nelson* and Mr. Robert Kennicottf it was 

 formerly a summer resident within our borders. Mr. M. 



*Birds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 326. 

 tTrans. Illinois State Agri. Soc., Vol. I, 1853-1854, 587. 



