176 WADING BIRDS. 



common at times in almost every suitable locality. Its general 

 breeding area extends from Hudson Bay and Alaska southward 

 to about latitude 45°, and a few nests have been taken south 

 of that line. In winter the birds are found in the Gulf States and 

 southward. 



Note. — The European Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), which 

 is somewhat similar in appearance to the American bird, occurs 

 regularly in Greenland, and has been taken in Bermuda. 



AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



bog-sucker. 



Philohela minor. 



Char. Above, mottled tawny, black, and gray ; beneath, pale rufous 

 or tawny buff, tinged with gray. Head peculiar ; neck short ; body 

 stout ; bill long and straight ; legs and tail short. Length about 11 

 inches. 



N'est. Sometimes in a wet meadow or on the margin of a swamp, but 

 often in a dry woodland or on a shaded hillside, — placed amid a tuft of 

 grass or at the foot of a tree or stump ; a slight depression sparingly lined 

 with leaves or grass. 



£ggs. 4; creamy or pale buff spotted with brown and lavender; 

 i-SS X i.is- 



The American Woodcock, like the Snipe, appears again to 

 be a near representative of that of Europe, whose manners 

 and habits it almost entirely possesses, differing, however, ma- 

 terially in the temperature of the climates selected for its resi- 

 dence, confining itself in the summer to the south side of the 

 St. Lawrence, breeding in all the intermediate space as far as 

 the limits of the Middle States, and retiring in winter for the 

 most part either to or beyond the boundary of the Union. 

 The European species, on the contrary, courting cooler cli- 

 mates, winters in Great Britain and the North of Europe, and 

 retires as early as March to breed in the Alps or in the frigid 

 wilds of Sweden, Norway, Russia, and penetrates even to the 

 icy shores of Greenland and the heaths of Iceland. About the 

 same period, early in March, the American Woodcock revisits 

 Pennsylvania, and soon after the New England or Eastern 



