250 SCOLOPAClDiE, SNIPE, ETC. 



In the dried state, the soft skin shrinks tight like parchment to the bone, and 

 becomes studded with small pits. The gape of the mouth is extremely short and 

 narrow ; the toes are cleft ; the legs, neck and wings are comparatively short, and 

 the body is rather full. There are no obvious seasonal or sexual differences in 

 plumage. Not completely gregarious ; no such flights of woodcock and true 

 snipe occur as are usually witnessed among sandpipers and bay-snipe ; they 

 inhabit the bog and brake rather than the open waterside ; they cannot be 

 treacherously massacred by scores, like some of their relatives ; they are knowing 

 birds, if their brains are upset, and their successful pursuit calls into action all the 

 better qualities of the true sportsman. There is but one species of Philohela ; two 

 or three of Scolopax, and about twenty of OalUnarjo. The curious circumstance 

 occurs, among the latter, that the tail feathers range from 12 to 26 in different 

 species ; and in those with the higher numbers, several pairs are narrow and linear — 

 a character upon which the genus Spilura rests. — The singular gaxms Rhynchoea, 

 with two species, B. capeyisis (Africa) and R. semicollaris (S.America), may belong 

 here. — Macrorliamplms (204), containing only our species, and one other, M. semi- 

 pabnatus of the Old World, has the bill exactly as in GaUinago, but is distinguished 

 by more pointed wings, and differently proportioned legs, with basal webbing of 

 the toes. It stands exactly between the true snipe and 



b. The godivits (213), in which we find the same verj' long, wholly grooved, 

 and extremely sensitive bill, which, however, is not dilated at the end, nor furrowed 

 on the culmen, and is bent slightly upward ; the gape, as before, is exceedingly con- 

 stricted. The toes show a basal web. These are rather large birds, with the colors 

 and general aspect of curlews, but the bill is not decurved and the tarsi are scutel- 

 late behind. They frequent marshes, bays and estuaries, and are among the 

 miscellaneous assortment of birds that are collectively designated " bay-snipe." 

 There are only five or six species, of the single genus Limosa. The Terekia cinerea 

 of various parts of the Old World, with the bill recurved almost as in an avocet, 

 stands between the godwits and tattlers. 



c. The sandpipers (gen. 205-212) are a rather extensive group, notable for the 

 variation in minor details of form, that it shows with almost every species — a cir- 

 cumstance that has caused the erection of a number of unwarranted genera. Here 

 the bill retains much of the sensitiveness of a snipe's, and the gape likewise is 

 much constricted ; but the bill is much shorter, averaging about equal to the head. 

 One tri^'ial circumstance affords a good clue to this group ; the tail feathers are plain 

 colored, or with simple edgings, while in almost all the species of other groups these 

 feathers are barred crosswise. In this group the seasonal changes of plumage are 

 very great ; the proportions of the legs, and webbing of the toes, are variable 

 with the species, but as a rule, the toes are cleft to the base (not so in 205, 206), 

 and four in nlimber (except 212). The sandpipers belong particularly to the 

 northern hemisphere, and breed in high latitudes ; thej' perform extensive migra- 

 tions, and in winter spread over most of the world. Among them are the- most 

 diminutive of waders. They are probabljr without exception gregarious, and 'often 

 fleck the beach in vast multitudes ; they live by preference in open wet places, 

 rather than in fens and marshes, and feed by probing, like snipe ; the voice is 

 mellow and piping. .They are pretty well distinguished from both the foregoing, 

 though gen. 20.3 connects with the snipe through 204 ; but shade directlj' into the 

 following group; for instance, gen. 218-19-20, if not also 217, have been called 

 Tringa, and "sandpiper." Nearly all the forms of sandpiper are described in 

 detail beyond. There are in all about 20 species. The only generic forms not 



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