. Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and Lower California, with which are incorporated General ornithology: an outline of the structure and classification of birds; and Field ornithology, a manual of collecting, preparing, and preserving birds. Birds; Birds. SCOLOPAGIBM: THE SNIPE FAMILY. 617 The Terekia emerea of various parts of the Old World, with the bUl recurved almost as in an avocet, stands between the godwits and t
. Key to North American birds. Containing a concise account of every species of living and fossil bird at present known from the continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclusive of Greenland and Lower California, with which are incorporated General ornithology: an outline of the structure and classification of birds; and Field ornithology, a manual of collecting, preparing, and preserving birds. Birds; Birds. SCOLOPAGIBM: THE SNIPE FAMILY. 617 The Terekia emerea of various parts of the Old World, with the bUl recurved almost as in an avocet, stands between the godwits and tattlers. c. The Sandpipers (Trvnga, etc.) are a rather extensive group, notable for the variation in minor details of form, that it shows with almost every species — a circumstance that has caused the erection of a number of unnecessai-y genera. Here the bill retains much of the sensitiveness of a snipe's, and the gape likewise is much restricted; but the bill is much shorter, averaging about equal to the head. One trivial circumstance affords a good clue to this group: the tail-feathers are plain-colored, or with simple edgings, while in almost all the species of other groups these feathers are barred crosswise. In this group the seasonal changes of plumage are very great; the proportions of the legs, and webbing of the toes, are variable with the species, but, as a rule, the toes are cleft to the base (not so in Mieropalama and Erewnetes'), and four in number (except Calid/ris). The sandpipers belong particularly to the northern hemisphere, and breed in high latitudes; they perform extensive migrations, and in winter spread over most of the world. Among them are the most diminutive of Fig. 433. — American Snipe, abont f nat. size. (From American Field.) They are probably without exception gregarious, and often fleck the beach in vast multitudes; they live by preference in open wet places, rather than in fens and marshes, and feed by prob- ing, like snipe; the voi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1894
