SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — BARTRAMIA. 



295 



Moutagu kept several of these birds in conlinemeut a nuiiiber of years. lu tliis 

 coiulition the mah's took no other notice of the females than to drive them from the 

 food; invariably quarrelling with each other, but taking no notice of other species, 

 and feeding in perfect amity out of the same dish witli Laud-Eails and other birds 

 confined with them. 



When the Kheeves, as the females are called, begin to lay, both they and the Ruffs 

 are least shy, and are easily caught. The females lay their eggs during the first 

 or second week in May, and their young are sometimes hatched out as early as June 

 3. The nest is usually placed on a slight elevation in moist, swampy places, sur- 

 rounded by coarse grass, of which material it is chiefly made. The eggs are four in 

 number, have an olive ground-color, and are marked with spots and blotches of umber 

 and liver-brown. They are of an oblong pyriform shape, and measure 1.60 inches in 

 length by 1.09 inches in their greatest breadth. The young, which are prettily 

 spotted when covered with down, soon leave the nest, and are difhcult to find without 

 a good dog. 



Genus BARTRAMIA, Lesson. 



Bartramia, Lessox, Traite J'Orn. 1831, 553 (type, B. latiamda, Less., = Tringa lonrjicauda, 



Beoust. ). 

 Actidurus, BoXAr. Saggio, etc., 183], 143 (type, ,Trinya Bartramia, AVils., = Triiuja Imigicauda 



Becust. ). 

 Euliija, KvTT. Man. IL 1S3J {saute type). 



Char. L'pper mandible groovi'il laterally to within the terminal fourth, the lower not quite 

 so far. Culmen concave to near the tip, where it is slightly decurvecl ; gonys straight. Month 

 deeply cleft, almost as far back as the anterior canthus. The culmen only about two thirds the 

 couuuissure, shorter than the head or tarsus, and about ei^ual to middle toe without claw. Feath- 



S. Icmtficauda. 



ers extending much farther forward on the upper jaw than on the lower, although those of chiu 

 reach nearly to end of nostrils. Tarsus one and one half times middle toe and claw ; the bare 

 part of tibia not quite equal to the middle toe above ; outer toe united at base as far as first joint ; 



web of inner toe verv basal. 



Tail long, graduated, more thau half the wings. 



