SC0L0PACIDH3 — THE SNIPE FAMILY — GALLINAGO. 
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different parts of tile country, such as “ Mud-Snipe,” “ Blind Snipe,” “ Big-lieaded 
Snipe,” and “ Marsh-Plover.” Its weight is never more than nine and a half ounces, 
usually not more than seven, and very rarely as much as eight. The female is the 
larger bird. The usual weight of the European Woodcock is fourteen ounces. 
The egg of the Woodcock is of a rounded oval shape, one end being more tapering 
than the other ; it measures 1.50 inches in length by 1.14 in breadth. The ground is 
a light huffy cream-color, marked over the entire surface with line dottings and 
blotches of sepia-brown, intermingled with shadings of a neutral tint and brown, 
washed with the buff of the ground, causing these spots to assume an opaque ashy 
hue. 
Genus GALLINAGO, Leach. 
Gallinago, “ Leach, Catal. British Birds, 1816,” Gray (type Scolopax major, L.). 
Char. Lower portion of the tibia bare of feathers, scutellate before and behind, reticulated 
laterally like the tarsi. Nail of hind toe slender, extending beyond the toe. Bill depressed at 
the tip. Middle toe longer than tarsus. Tail with twelve to twenty-six feathers. Plumage the 
same in winter and summer ; young like the adult in colors and markings. The more slender 
body, longer legs, partly naked tibia, and other features, distinguish this genus from Scolopax and 
Pliilohela, and the cleft toes from Macrorhamphus . 
The species of Gallinago are quite numerous, about fifteen being recognized, this number 
nearly equally divided between America and various portions of the Old World. Of the seven 
American species, North America claims but two, the common Wilson’s Snipe, or, as it is perhaps 
more popularly known, the “ English Snipe,” from its very close resemblance to the Common 
Snipe of Europe, and the latter species, which has been taken in Greenland. With a few ex- 
G. Wilsoni. 
ceptions, the various species resemble one another very closely in colors and markings — so much 
so in some cases, that it is necessary to resort to the rectrices in order to discover points of positive 
difference. 
The single species peculiar to North America has usually sixteen rectrices, of which the outer 
is not notably narrower than the rest ; its nearest relative, the European G. codestis, has usually 
but fourteen tail-feathers, of which the outer pair are differently marked from those of G. Wilsoni ; 
the several South American species possess from fourteen to eighteen rectrices, of which the outer 
pair are very narrow. The two North American species may be distinguished as follows : — 
Com. Char. Tail with a sub-terminal band of rufous, succeeded by a black bar. Pileum black, 
divided longitudinally by a line of pale buff. Dorsal feathers black, broadly edged exteriorly 
