SCOLOPACID^ : THE SNIPE FAMILY. 



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the particular, somewhat piseon-like, shape described under ChcwadriincB, being slender and • 

 soft-skinned throughout. It is generally straight, but frequently curved up or down. The 

 nasal grooves, always long and narrow channels, range from one-half to almost the whole 

 lencrth of the bill ; similar grooves usually occupy the sides of the under mandible ; the inter- 

 ramal space is correspondingly long and narrow, and nearly naked. This length, slenderness, 

 grooving, and peculiar sensitiveness, are the prime characteristics of the scolopacine bill. The 

 gape, never ample, is generally very short and narrow, reaching little, if any, beyond the base 

 (jf the bill. The nostrUs are short narrow slits, exposed. The head is completely feathered 

 to the bill (except in one species), at the base of which the ptilosis stops abruptly without 

 forming prcjjecting anti*. The wings commonly show the thin pointed contour described under 

 Limicola, but they are occasionally short and rounded. The tail, always short and soft, has 

 as a rule 12 rectrices; in one genus, however, there are from 12 to 2C. The crura are rarely 

 feathered to the suffrago. The tarsi are scuteUate before and behind, and reticulate on the 

 sides, except in the curlews, where they are scuteUate only in front ; they are probably never 

 entirely reticulate (the normal state in plover). The hallux is absent in only two or three 

 instances ; the anterior toes commonly show one basal web, and often two, but in many species 

 they are entirely cleft. The scolopacine birds are of medium and small size, ranking with 

 plover in this respect ; none attain the average stature of Herodiones. 



The general economy of these birds is similar to that of plover ; a chief peculiarity being 

 probably their mode of procuring food, by feeling for it, in the majority of cases, in the sand 

 or mud with their delicately sensitive, probe-like bill. The eggs are commonly four, parti- 

 colored, pointed at one end and broad at the other, placed with the small ends together in a 

 slight nest or mere depression on the ground ; the young run about at birth. The sexes, with 

 very rare exceptions, are alike in color or nearly so, and the <? is usually a little lai'ger than 

 the (J ; but the sexual distinctions are very rarely strong enough to be perfectly reliable 

 (remarkable exception in Machetes). Color distinctions with age, likewise, are rarely marked; 

 but on the contrary, seasonal plumages are in many cases, as throughout the sandpipers, very 

 strongly indicated, the nuptial dress being entirely different from that worn the rest of the year. 

 Excepting a few species that frequent dry open places like many plover, these birds are found 

 by the water's edge where the ground is soft and oozy — in moist thickets, low rank meadows, 

 bogs and marshes, by the riverside, and on the seashore. Some are solitary, but the majority 

 are gregarious when not breeding, and many gather in immense flocks, especially during the 

 extensive migrations that nearly all perform. The voice is a mellow pipe, a sharp bleat, or a 

 harsh scream, according to the species. Few birds surpass the snipe in sapid quality of flesh, 

 and many kinds rank high in the estimation of the sportsman and epicure. The family is 

 cosmopolitan, but the majority inhabit the northern hemisphere, breeding in boreal regions. 

 There are about ninety well-determined species of scolopacine birds, referable perhaps to 

 fifteen tenable genera, although many more than this are often employed. Various attempts 

 to divide the group into sub-families have met with little success, owing to the close inter- 

 gradation of the several types. All the leading forms of the family, with most of the lesser 

 genera, are represented in this country, and are indicated by the specific descriptions given 

 beyond ; while its entire composition may be pointed out and rendered perfectly intelligible by 

 a brief summary : — 



a. Tn Woodcock {Scolopax and Philohela) and true Snipe {Gallinago) the ear appears below 

 and not behind the eye, which is placed far back and high up ; and if the brain be examined, 

 it will be found curiously tilted over so that its anatomical base looks forward. The bill is 

 perfectly straight and much longer than the head, deep-grooved to the very end, which is 

 either knobbed, or widened just behind the tip, where there is a furrow in the flattened cul- 

 men. The membranous covering is abundantly supplied with nerves; this organ constitutes 

 a probe of deUcate sensibility, an efficient instrument of touch, used to feel for food below the 



