CLASS II. AYES: ORDER 7. GRALLATORES. 



273 



THE GRAY PHALAROPE. 



they walk about as much at their ease as on land. Their notes are weet, ivcct, iweet, uttered 

 in a sharp, clear tone. In their spring and autumn migrations they assemble in flocks, and are 

 often seen feeding on floating beds of sea-weed, a hundred miles from land. They breed in 

 high northern latitudes of both continents during the summer, at which time they are seen in 

 pairs. About August they move southward, and pay transient visits to the maritime parts of 

 Europe, as well as to the Atlantic borders of the United States. They are said, also, to be found 

 in California and Oregon. 



Other species are the Red Phalarope, P . fulicarius, smaller than the preceding, resembling it, 

 however, and distributed in the same countries ; and Wilson's Phalarope, P. Wilsoni, a beau- 

 tiful species, ten inches long; irregular in its migrations, and rarely seen ; distributed through- 

 out temperate North America. 



THE TRUE SNIPES. 



Genus SCOLOPAX : Sco- 

 lopax. — The most noted spe- 

 cies is the European Wood- 

 cock — Becasse of the French, 

 Beccaccia of the Italians, and 

 Waldschne2)fe of the Germans 

 — S. rusticola. It is thirteen 



inches 



long ; 



weight fifteen 

 fe- 



argest ; 



to twenty-seven ounces 

 males a little the 

 color various mixtures of 

 brown ; bill very long and 

 straight ; the eye large ; the 

 eggs three to four, yellow- 

 ish-white, blotched and spot- 

 ted with gray ; habits noc- 

 turnal, reposing during the 

 day, and seeking its food, 

 consisting chiefly of earth- 

 worms, at night. It is guided in its search by smell, and strikes its long, sensitive bill with unerr- 

 VoL. II.— 35 



THE EUROPEAN WOODCOCK. 



