254 
POPULAR HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
The next family^ the Snipes, named from its typical genus 
Scolopax [^cowvKQmM) J is distinguished by the great length 
and slenderness of the bill. Some authors have given the 
family the name of Longirostres, from this peculiarity. The 
bill^ unlike that of the herons, is feeble and flexible, at least 
in most of the genera. Its tip is covered with a soft, very 
sensitive skin, of great use to the birds, whose usual mode 
of getting their food is to push the beak into soft earth or 
mud, for the worms, grubs, and insects which are generally 
found there ; the hind toe is joined to the tarsus, above 
the level of the fore toes, and, being short, does not reach 
the ground ; in some of them the hind toe is wanting. In 
this family are placed the Godwits [Limosa), which have a 
straight bill, and the outer toes webbed at the base ; their 
legs are considerably elongated, and the various species fre- 
quent salt-marshes and the shores of the sea, where they 
find, among the annelides and smaller Crustacea, abundant 
supplies of food. In the breeding season their plumage, 
on the under parts, acquires a rufous tint. The various 
godwits are gregarious in their habits, and even social. 
Wilson mentions that the American species, though a shy 
and cautious bird, is much attached to its kind : if one of 
the flock be wounded, the rest are immediately arrested 
