SCOLOPACID^. 



The nest is made of grass and other vegetables, 

 and is placed amongst the coarse herbage of swamps 

 and low meadows. 



The food of the present species consists mostly of 

 worms, grubs and aquatic insects ; small shell-fish, 

 both salt and fresh-water, are often found in the 

 stomach : gravel and small stones are generally 

 present, probably being swallowed for the purpose 

 of assisting digestion.* 



The changes of plumage of this bird at various 

 ages and times of the year have led to many mis- 

 takes of identity, and to the bird being called by 

 different names by different authors : in its summer 

 plumage it appears to be the "Red Godwit" of 

 Montagu and Bewick, and the young bird appears to 

 be the " Jadreka Snipe" of those authors: in this 

 plumage its appearance is as follows : " The beak 

 is black for half its length from the point, the basal 

 half pale orange ; irides hazel ; from the gape to the 

 eye a dark streak, produced by small black spots on 

 feathers of a reddish brown ; over this and around 

 the eye a ring of pale brown ; the top of the head 

 and the ear-coverts reddish brown, streaked with 

 black ; the neck all round, before and behind, a red- 

 dish fawn-colour ; the feathers of the back in spring 

 become dark brown, almost black, at the base and 



* 'Zoologist' for 1864, p. 9289; for 1865, p. 9809; 

 for 1867 (Second Series), p. 539. 



