330 
Synopsis of the Birds 
and habits, to the other genera of the family. Connects 
Scolopax with Totanus and Limpsa. 
267. Scolopax grisea, Gm. Rump white ; tail banded with 
black and white ; shaft of the first primary white. 
Summer dress, black varied with reddish and cinereous; 
eyebrows and breast reddish : winter, cinereous, beneath white. 
Red-breasted Snipe, Scolopax noveboracensis , Wils. Am. 
Orn. vii.p. 48. pi. 58 .fig. 2. summer dress . 
Inhabits throughout North America : very common in the 
middle stales at its double passage : an accidental and very 
rare visitant in the north of Europe. 
SUB GENUS II. SCOLOPAX. 
Becassine, Temm. Scolopax, Vieill. Gallinago, Steph. 
Feet moderate ; tibia partly naked ; all the toes cleft ; hind 
nail projecting over the toe, acute. Tail of from twelve to 
sixteen feathers. Young similar to the adult: do not change 
in moulting. 
Colors a mixture of black, white, rufous, and cinereous. 
Solitary. Live in open marshes, on the borders of rivers, 
fresh water pools, in damp, and sometimes even dry prairies; 
always hiding in the grass, not perceived until started. Flight 
high, very rapid, and irregular. 
Spread all over the globe, even some of the few species of 
which it is formed. 
268. Scolopax wilsonii, Temm. (24.) Tail rounded, of six- 
teen feathers, all barred with black at tip, the lateral half as 
broad as the middle ones. 
Snipe , Scolopax gallinago, Wils. Am. Orn. vi. p. 18 .pi. 47. 
fig- 2- 
Inhabits North and South America : very common during 
autumn in the middle states, where a few breed. Resembling 
excessively S. gallinago, and S. Brehmii of the old conti- 
nent : perhaps they form but a single species. 
