SCOLOPAGIDJE : SNIPE. 



621 



007, 



this family), less so than in Scolopax or Philohelaj no primaries attenuate. Tail short, 

 rounded, of numerous (in our species 16) feathers, of which the lateral are narrowed; tail 

 barred crosswise. Sexes alike; seasonal changes of plumage not pronounced. Numerous 

 species of all countries ; one N. American, and another straggling to Greenland from Europe. 



Analysis of Species, 



Axillars and flanks white, incompletely or imperfectly barred with blackish media 607 



Axillars and flanks fully and regularly barred with white and blaokish wilsord 608 



G. me'dia. (Lat. media, medium (in size, between two other European species.) Fig. 430.) 

 European Snipe. " English snipe " proper. In size, form, and general coloration indistin- 

 guishable from No. 608, but the axillary feathers almost entirely white, with slight and sparse 

 dark markings, and the feathers of the flanks and sides less frequently and less regularly barred 



Fig. 436. — The Snipe's family. (ITrom " Sport with Ghin and Kod." The Century Co., N. Y.) 



■with dark gray. (In the lesser European Snipe, G. gaVmula, the sides and lining of wings are 

 fully barred as in our S. wilsord, but the tail-feathers are 14, the outer ones little shorter and 

 not abruptly narrower than the rest.) Europe : Only N. American as occurring in Greenland. 

 608. G. wil'soni. (To A. Wilson. Pigs. 431, 433, 436.) American Snipe. Wilson's 

 Snipe. "English" Snipe (so-called). Jack-Snipe. Adult $ 9 : Crown black, with a 

 pale ochrey middle stripe. Upper parts brownish-black, varied with bright bay and tawny, 

 the scapular feathers smoothly and evenly edged with tawny or whitish, forming two length- 

 wise stripes on each side when the wings are folded. Quills and greater coverts blackish- 

 brown, usually with white tips, and outer web of first primary usually white. Lining of 

 wings and axillars white, fully and r.egularly barred with black. Rump black, the feathers 

 with white tips. Upper tail-coverts tawny with numerous black bars, and tail-feathers black 



