CHAPTER X 



SHORE-BIRD SHOOTING {CONTINUED) 



WOODCOCKS, SNIPES, AND SANDPIPERS 



(Scolopacidee) 



This is the largest family of the shore-birds, and 

 to it belong most of the birds we see on the banks 

 of our lakes and rivers, in our marshes, or on the 

 flats left bare by the retreating tide. In the neigh- 

 borhood of one hundred species are known, dis- 

 tributed in the migrations throughout the world, 

 but the great majority breeding in the northern 

 hemisphere and many within the Arctic circle. 

 About forty-five species occur in North America 

 and form the flocks that wheel, now dark, now 

 bright in the sunlight, as in their migrations they 

 pass along our coast, or fly from one feeding- 

 ground to another. Most of the shore-birds in- 

 teresting to sportsmen are found in this group, 

 for to it belong the woodcock, snipe, yellowlegs, 

 godwit, and curlew. Many of them occur on our 

 coasts or about the marshes of the interior in 

 large flocks during their migrations, and their 

 flesh is tender and sweet. 



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