SCOLOPACID^: THE SNIPE FAMILY. 
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the particular, somewhat pigeon-like, shape described under Charadriince, being slender and 
soft-skinned throughout. It is generally straight, but frequently curved up or down. The 
nasal grooves, always long and narrow channels, range from one-half to almost the whole 
length of the bill ; similar grooves usually occupy the sides of the under mandible ; the inter- 
ramal space is correspondingly long and narrow, and nearly naked. This length, slenderuess, 
grooving, and peculiar sensitiveness, are the prime characteristics of the scolopacine bill. The 
gape, never ample, is generally very short and narrow, reaching little, if any, beyond the base 
of the bill. The nostrils are short narrow slits, exposed. The head is completely feathered 
to the bill (except in one species), at the base of which the ptilosis stops abruptly without 
forming projecting antia?. The wings commonly show the thin pointed contour described under 
LimicolcEj but they are occasionally short and rounded. The tail, always short and soft, has 
as a rule 12 rectrices ; in one genus, however, there are from 12 to 2G. The crura are rarely 
feathered to the suffrago. The. tarsi are scutellate before and behind, and reticulate on the 
sides, except in the curlews, where they are scutellate only in front ; they are probably never 
entirely reticulate (the normal state in plover). The hallux is absent in only two or three 
instances; the anterior toes commonly show one basal web, and often two, but in many species 
they are entirely cleft. The scolopacine birds are of medium and small size, ranking Math 
plover in this respect ; none attain the average stature of Herodiones. 
The general economy of these birds is similar to that of plover ; a chief peculiarity being 
probably their mode of procuring food, by feeling for it, in the majority of cases, in the sand 
or mud with their delicately sensitive, probe-like bill. The eggs are commonly four, parti- 
colored, pointed at one end and broad at the other, placed with the small ends together in a 
slight nest or mere depression on the ground ; the young run about at birth. The sexes, with 
very rare exceptions, are alike in color or nearly so, and the 9 is usually a little larger than 
the $ ; but the sexual distinctions are very rarely strong enough to be perfectly reliable 
(remarkable exception in Machetes^. Color distinctions with age, likewise, are rarely marked; 
but on the contrary, seasonal plumages are in many cases, as throughout the sandpipers, very 
strongly indicated, the nuptial dress being entirely different from that worn tlie rest of the year. 
Excepting a few species that frequent dry open places like many plover, these birds are found 
by the water's edge where the ground is soft and oozy — in moist thickets, low rank meadows, 
bogs and marshes, by the riveriside, and on the seashore. Some are solitary, but the majority 
are gregarious when not breeding, and many gather in immense liocks, especially during the 
extensive migrations that nearly all perform. The voice is a mellow pipe, a sharp bleat, or a 
harsh scream, according to the species. Few birds surpass the snipe in sapid quality of Hesh, 
and many kinds rank high in the estimation of the sportsman and epicure. The family is 
cosmopolitan, but the majority inhabit the northern hemisphere, breeding in boreal regions. 
There are about ninety well-determined species of scolopacine birds, referable perhaps to 
fifteen tenable genera, although many more than this are often employed. Various attempts 
to divide the group into sub-families have met with little success, owing to the close inter- 
gradation of the several types. All the leading forms of the family, with most of the lesser 
genera, are represented in this country, and are indicated by the specific descriptions given 
beyond ; while its entire composition may be pointed out and rendered perfectly intelligible by 
a brief summary : — 
a. Tn Woodcock {Scolopax and Philohela) and true Snipe (Gallinago) the ear appears below 
and not behind the eye, which is placed far back and high up ; and if the brain be examined, 
it will be found curiously tilted over so that its anatomical base looks forward. The bill is 
perfectly straight and much longer than the head, deep-grooved to the very end, which is 
either knobbed, or widened just behind the tip, where there is a furrow in the flattened cul- 
men. The membranous covering is abundantly supplied with nerves ; this organ constitutes 
a probe of delicate sensibility, an efficient instrument of touch, used to feel for food below the 
