PHILOHELA MINOR, WOODCOCK. 473 



The restriction of tlie range of the Woodcock is a siugalar circum- 

 stance in the history of a family of birds noted for their wide dispersion 

 and extensive migrations. It is only linown to inhabit the United States 

 and immediately adjoining portions of the British possessions, while in 

 the West its extension is equally limited. To Dr. Hayden's instance of 

 its occurrence in Nebraska, hitherto the westernmost on record, I am 

 enabled to add another, which somewhat extends the range. While I 

 was at Fort Eandall I was assured by several ofdcers, and particularly 

 Captain Hartley and Lieutenant Campbell, that a Woodcock had been 

 shot considerably further up the river, at Fort Eice. It would appear 

 that the bird is creeping up the river, like the Quail, though it is still 

 rare. Mr. Trippe did not meet with it anywhere in Minnesota; but 

 in a list of the game birds found about Saint Paul, kindly furnished by 

 Dr. A. Heger, United States Army, I find it included as a summer resi- 

 dent, and until the end of September. Its time of arrival was not 

 noticed. Mr. Allen states that it is common in Western Iowa, where, 

 however, Mr. Trippe did not observe it; and according to Prof Snow 

 it occurs, though rarely, in Kansas, where it breeds. Dr. Woodhouse 

 found it rare in the Indian Territory. These references probably fully 

 exhibit the limit of its western extension. I myself never saw it any- 

 where in Dakota. 



There is no occasion at present to enter into the history of the Y\^ood- 

 cock, which is well known to those who are interested in the subject ; 

 in fact, most competent sportsmen are more familiar with the bird than 

 some who have written about it appear to be. I wish, however, to call 

 attention to a point of nomenclature, in which some of the best field 

 naturalists are often at fault. It is a common practice of untechnical 

 observers to use the term " Scolopax^' as a designation of various Amer- 

 ican birds of the family Scolopacidce, to no one of which can it be prop- 

 erly applied in strictness. This term belongs to the European Wood- 

 cock, quite a different bird from ours, and still more different from the 

 other scolopacine species. Our Woodcock might be called Scolopax 

 minor, as it used to be, without violent stretching of the significance of 

 the term; but the name Scolojyax had much better be left where it be- 

 longs — to the European species. Ours differs from that one, beside 

 being smaller and somewhat differently shaped and colored, in having 

 the first three quills of the wing very narrow and scythe-shaped. This 

 is a structural peculiarity, important enough, in connection with some 

 other points, to warrant our putting the bird in a different genus, and 

 calling it Pkilohela minor. 



Accounts sometimes reach us of an extraordinarily big Woodcock 

 killed in this country — say about a third larger and heavier than the 

 ordinary bird. It is probable that in every such instance the specimen 

 was a European Woodcock that had somehow straggled to this country. 

 The point can always be decided, independently of size, by the above 

 character of the quill-feathers. The European Woodcock {Scolopax 

 rusticola) is perfectly authentic as a casual inhabitant of this country, 

 having been found in Newfoundland, Long Island, and New Jersey. 

 Dr. Lewis, author of the admirable volume, "The American Sports- 

 man," speaks of a bird which was undoubtedly of this sort, in the foot- 

 note on p. 109 of the edition of 18C8; and other unquestionable instances, 

 in which the specimen was examined by a competent ornithologist, have 

 come to our knowledge. (See Lawrence, Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1866, 292 ; Baird, 

 Amer. Journ. Sci. xli, 1866, 25.) The species was formally introduced 

 to our fauna in 1872, in my late work, where these and other technical 

 points are presented. Such occurrences of stragglers from another con- 



