THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 65 



portion of the United States southward to the West Indies and 

 the northern portion of South America. 



FAMILY SCOLOPACID^: SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC 

 Genus PHILOHELA Gray, 1841. 



Philohela minor (Gmelin). American Woodcock. 



Scolopaae minor Gmeun, S. N., I, ii, 1788, 661. 

 Philohela minor Geat, Genera of Birds, 1841, 90. 

 Popular synonyms: Boo-stroEEB. Mup-bnipe. Blind Snife. 



Formerly a common summer resident. It is chiefly nocturnal, 

 spending the daytime in the low, damp thickets or heavy growths 

 of willows. In the spring it arrives from about the last of 

 March to the middle of April, and departs in September. It 

 nests the last of April, and its eggs are remarkably large for the 

 size of the bird. Though nests and eggs of the Woodcock are 

 still occasionally found within our limits, the settling of the 

 country with homes and factories, and above all the selfish zeal 

 of collectors and hunters are rapidly driving this interesting bird 

 from our vicinity. 



Its range covers eastern North America as far west as 

 Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, and north to the British Posses- 

 sions. Its breeding range is coincident with its geographical 

 range. 



Genus GALLINAGO Leach, 1816. 



Gallinago delicata (Ord), Wilson's Snipe. 



Scolopax gallinago Wilson, Amer. Om., VI, 1812, 18, pi. 47, fig. 1 



(neo Linnaeus). 

 Scolopax wiUoni Temm., PI. Col., V, 1824, livr. LXVIII (in text). 

 Gallinago wiUoni Bonapaete, 1838. 



Scolopax delicata Obd, Wilson's Orn., IX, 1825, p. ccxviii. 

 Gallinago delicata EmewAT, in A. O. U. Check List, 1886, 148, No. 



230. 

 Gallinago gaUinaria (Gmelin) var. wilsoni Temm., of some authors. 

 Popular synonyms: Amebican Snipe. Common Snipe. English 



Snipe. Gxjtteb Snipe. Jack Snipe. 



A common spring and fall migrant. There are no recent 

 records of this species having nested within our limits. It is 

 known to have nested not far from our area, and according to 

 both Mr. E. W. Nelson* and Mr. Robert Kennicottf it was 

 formerly a summer resident within our borders. Mr. M. 



*Birds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII 1876 326 

 tTrans. Illinois State Agri. Soc., Vol. I, 1853-1854, 587. ' 



