Plate CCCXXXV. Adult in summer and winter.
Tail of twelve feathers; bill dark olive; feet light yellowish-olive.
In summer, the upper parts brownish-black, variegated with light
brownish-red, the feathers being margined and the scapulars obliquely
barred with that colour; hind part of back, upper tail-coverts, and
tail-feathers light buff or white, barred with black, the bars on the
tail seven or eight, and its tip white; wing-coverts and secondaries
greyish-brown, margined with greyish-white; secondary coverts tipped
with white, the quills tipped and obliquely banded with the same;
alula, primary coverts, and quills brownish-black, the shaft of the
first quill white; from the base of the bill to the eye, and
surrounding it, a dull reddish-white band; loral space dusky; all the
lower parts dull orange-red, with streaks and spots of black, more
numerous along the sides and on the tail-coverts. In winter, the upper
parts of a nearly uniform brownish-grey, the hind part of the back and
tail barred as in summer, head and neck all round ash-grey, streaked
with dusky, the rest of the lower parts greyish-white, the sides
barred with dusky.
_Adult_, 10-1/4, 18-1/2.
Passes in immense numbers from Texas eastward and northward to the
highest latitudes, where it breeds, and returns in autumn.
Occasionally seen in groups through the interior. Columbia River.
Red-breasted Snipe, Scolopax noveboracensis, Wils. Amer. Orn.
v. vii. p. 48.
Scolopax grisea, Bonap. Syn. p. 330.
Scolopax noveboracensis, New York Godwit, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 398.
Brown or Red-breasted Snipe, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 181.
Red-breasted Snipe, Scolopax noveboracensis, Aud. Orn. Biog.
v. iv. p. 285.
GENUS VII. MICROPTERA, Nutt. BOGSUCKER.
Bill double the length of the head, straight, slender, tapering,
subtrigonal, and deeper than broad at the base, slightly depressed
towards the end; upper mandible with the ridge narrow, towards the end
flattened, the sides with a narrow groove extending to near the tip,
the tip blunt, knob-like, and longer than that of the lower. Head
rather large, oblong; eyes large, and placed high; neck short; body
full. Feet rather short; tibia feathered to the joint; tarsus rather
short, compressed, scutellate; first toe very small, the third much
longer than the tarsus. Claws very small, arched, acute. Wings short,
rounded, the fourth and fifth quills longest, the first three
extraordinarily attenuated. Tail very short, cuneate, of twelve
feathers.
354. 1. Microptera Americana, Aud. Common Bogsucker.--American
Woodcock.
Plate CCLXVIII. Male, Female, and Young.
Bill and feet flesh-coloured; forehead yellowish-grey, with a few dark
mottlings in the centre; on the upper part of the head two broad
blackish-brown transverse bands, and on the occiput two narrower,
separated by bands of light red; a brownish-black loral band, and a
narrow irregular line of the same across the cheek, and continued to
the occiput; upper parts variegated with brownish-black, light
yellowish-red, and ash-grey; inner wing-coverts and secondary quills
similarly barred, the outer pale greyish-red, faintly barred with
dusky; quills brown, tipped with dull grey, secondaries spotted on the
outer web with dull red; upper tail-coverts barred; tail-feathers
brownish-black, their tips grey, their outer edges mottled with
reddish; sides of the neck grey, tinged with red; lower part in
general light red, tinged with grey on the breast, on the sides and
lower wing-coverts deeper; lower tail-coverts with a central dusky
line, the tip white. Young with a longitudinal black band on the head.
_Male_, 11, 16. _Female_, 11-7/12, 17-1/4.
Distributed throughout the country. Extremely abundant in the Middle
and Eastern Districts, as well as in the interior, where it breeds, as
far as Nova Scotia. Equally abundant in winter in the Southern States,
though many migrate southward.
Scolopax minor, Gmel. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 661.
Woodcock, Scolopax minor, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 40.
Scolopax minor, Bonap. Syn. p. 331.
Lesser Woodcock, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 194.
American Woodcock, Scolopax minor, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p.
474.
GENUS VIII. RECURVIROSTRA, Linn. AVOCET.
Bill twice the length of the head, very slender, much depressed,
tapering to a point, and slightly recurved; upper mandible with the
dorsal line straight for half its length, then a little curved
upwards, and at the tip slightly decurved, the ridge broad and
flattened, the edges rather thick; nasal groove rather long and very
narrow; lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal
line slightly curved upwards, the point very slender, extremely thin,
and a little curved upwards. Nostrils linear, basal. Head small,
rounded above, rather compressed; neck long; body compact. Legs very
long, slender; tibia bare for half its length, and reticulated; tarsus
very long, compressed, reticulated with hexagonal scales; toes rather
short, the first extremely small; outer toe a little longer than
inner; anterior toes connected by webs of which the anterior margin is
deeply concave. Claws very small, compressed, rather acute. Plumage
soft and blended. Wings long, pointed, the first quill longest; inner
secondaries elongated and tapering. Tail short, even, of twelve rather
narrow rounded feathers. Tongue short in proportion to the length of
the bill, slender, tapering to a point; œsophagus wide,
considerably dilated at the lower part of the neck; stomach an oblong
gizzard of moderate strength, its epithelium hard, longitudinally
rugous; intestine long and of moderate width; cœca rather long.