i ’]6 
WADLXG 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'), \ih.\c\\ 
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 1 1 
inches. 
Nest. 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. 
Eggs. 4; creamy or pale buff spotted with brown and lavender; 
i.SS X 1.15. 
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 
