ORNITHOLOGY. 



623 



the sense of touch in the highest perfection ; and to enable 

 it to secure the object thus detected by the discriminat- 

 ing sensibility of the bill, it is further provided with pe- 

 culiar muscles (common, I believe, to all the members of 

 the genus), which by compression of the upper or basal 

 part of the bill, are brought into action so as to expand 

 the tips of both mandibles sufficiently wide to lay hold of 

 and draw forth the hidden treasure. The digestion of this 

 bird is rapid, and the quantity of worms it can devour in 

 the course of a night is astonishing. I have known one 

 that consumed at a meal (that is, within the night) more 

 large earth-worms than half filled a garden-pot of consi- 

 derable size. It may, however, by management, be brought 

 to eat other food ; as Montagu mentions one that was in- 

 duced to feed on bread and milk, by worms cleanly washed 

 being put into a mess of that kind ; and by this practice 

 being persisted in, the bird soon acquired a relish for this 

 new sort of aliment, and, with the addition of a few worms, 

 throve well upon it." 1 We have already mentioned that 

 the woodcock is now of frequent and constant occurrence 

 as a breeding bird in several of the northern parts of Scot- 

 land. 



Our other species of this genus are the common snipe, 

 S. gailinago, Linn., which also occurs in the temperate 

 parts of Asia ; and the jack-snipe, S. gallinula, a winter 

 visitant, which breeds, though sparingly, in the north of 

 Scotland. Besides these, we have as occasional visitants, — 

 the great or solitary snipe, S. major, Gmel., which haunts 

 the vast marshes of the north of Europe, — and a species 

 of which only one or two examples have been as yet dis- 

 covered (it was first shot in Queen's county, Ireland, we 

 believe in 1822), named S. Sabini, by Mr Vigors. 2 Al- 

 though some of these birds have an extended geographical 

 distribution, the great similarity of several species, both in 

 size and plumage, has caused misapprehension. There is 

 now no doubt that the species of Europe and America are 

 quite distinct. The lesser woodcock, S. minor, is a beauti- 

 ful bird, well known in the United States. The brown 

 snipe of Pennant (S. grisea, Gmel.) forms the genus Ma- 

 ceoramphus, Leach. Its toes are webbed at the base. 



The genus Rhynch^a, Cuv., has the bill very similar to 

 that of the snipes and woodcocks, but it is slightly arched 

 towards the tip, and wants the furrow on that part. The 

 toes have no palmation. The species are more richly co- 

 loured than their congeners, and, in consequence of their 

 occasional variation, have been as yet but indifferently dis- 

 tinguished. The Cape species so called (B. capensis, — Scol. 

 capensis, Gm., Plate CCCC. fig. 4), occurs in Java and 

 the East Indies ; while B. variegata, by some regarded as 

 its young, has been received both from China and the south 

 of Africa. A very distinct species, however (B. hilarea), 

 described by M.Valenciennes, has been discovered in South 

 America. 3 



In the genus Limosa of Bechstein, the bill is still longer 

 than among the woodcocks, straight, or even slightly turned 

 upwards, and pervaded by lengthened grooves, although 

 the terminal single groove is wanting. The tip is blunt 

 and depressed. There is a palmation at the base of the 

 outer toes. The general form of the species is more slen- 

 der, and the legs longer, than in the immediately preceding 

 groups. They haunt more habitually saline marshes and 

 the sea shore. 



We here place the birds called godwits, of which we have 

 two British species, — the black-tailed godwit, L. melanura, 

 Leisler and Temm. (Scol. cegocephala, Linn.), and the red 

 godwit, L. rufa, Briss. (Scol. Lapponica, Linn.). Of both 

 of these birds the synonyms, till lately, were greatly con- 

 fused, owing to the double moult to which they are sub- 



ject, and which, producing a remarkable change in the nup- 

 tial plumage from that of autumn and winter, led to a cor- 

 responding multiplication of names, — each kind being de- s 

 scribed as two species, according to the season in which it 

 was observed. Although the bill in the godwits possesses 

 much of the general form of that of the woodcocks, it wants 

 the extraordinary plexus of nerves, and therefore does not 

 become rugose by exsiccation after death, but continues 

 smooth and polished. It is also more solid, less flexible, and 

 thicker towards the base. These birds inhabit marshes, and 

 the banks and mouths of rivers, where the mud is soft and 

 deep, and there they probe with their long extended bills 

 in search of worms and insects. When thus engaged, they 

 are frequently seen with their heads entirely under water; 

 and we accordingly find them provided with that peculiar 

 gland above the eye, of which the function appears to be 

 to lubricate and defend that delicate and important organ 

 from the irritating effect of saline waters. 4 The females 

 considerably exceed the males in size. Several fine god- 

 wits, distinct from those of Europe, occur in North America ; 

 and a semi-palmated species, with a strongly recurved 

 bill (Scol. terek, Lath.), is found both in India and Van 

 Diemen's Land, and seems in some of its characters to lead 

 towards the avocets. 



In the genus Tringa of Temm., Selby, &c. (Calidris 

 and Pelidna, Cuv.), the bill equals or is longer than the 

 head, is straight or slightly arched, compressed at the 

 base, the tip blunt, smooth, and dilated, semi-flexible, and 

 furrowed throughout its length. The legs are of medium 

 length, very slim, the feet four-toed, divided to the base, 

 slightly margined, with the hind toe scarcely reaching to 

 the ground. 



The elegant and interesting species which compose this 

 rather numerous genus are commonly known by the name 

 of sea-larks or sandpipers, a term likewise bestowed upon 

 the Totani. Many of them breed by the margins of lakes 

 and rivers in the interior, although the majority congregate 

 in autumn in numerous flocks along the sea coast. They 

 moult twice a year, and their spring and summer plumage 

 is generally very different from that of autumn and winter. 

 This has occasioned great confusion in the history of seve- 

 ral species. The sexes present no great disparity in point 

 of plumage, but the females are of larger size. We coin- 

 cide in Mr Selby 's opinion, that the new genera Calidris 

 and Pelidna, which Baron Cuvier has proposed in place of 

 Tringa, are not so distinct or well defined as to warrant their 

 adoption, being in fact only such slight modifications of form 

 as might naturally be expected in birds placed at the ex- 

 tremes of the group to which they belong, and of which the 

 intimate connection is shown by the intervention of species 

 of intermediate form, leading gradually, almost impercep- 

 tibly, from one to the other. Besides, if these two generic 

 groups are adopted, it would appear that Tringa would 

 cease to exist as a recognised title, which is surely not in 

 accordance with established rule. The species of our 

 present genus are very widely distributed, and several are 

 identical in Europe and America. 



The dunlin or purre, T. variabilis, Temm. (T. alpina and 

 cinclus, Linn.), is a strictly indigenous bird in Scotland, 

 where it breeds both near the margins of our inland waters 

 and along the sea-shore, — residing with us throughout the 

 year. In America it penetrates during the summer season 

 to the utmost habitable verge of the arctic circle, breeding 

 on the desolate shores of Melville Peninsula. It likewise 

 inhabits Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, and probably 

 most of the coasts of Europe. We know that at least during 

 winter it frequents the Italian shores. In the southern 

 hemisphere it sometimes wanders as far as the Cape of 



Gralla- 

 tores. 



British Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 110. 

 Linn. Trans, vol. xiv. p. 556. 



3 Ferrussac's Bulletin des Sciences, 2d cah. 

 ' Selby's British Ornithology, vol. ii. p. 94. 



