MACRORHAMPHUS.—MICROPALAMA. 369 
~ Two races of I. griseus are recognized by American ornithologists, the true MW. griseus 
being considered to be the Eastern form, and MV. scolopaceus the Western. In the 
‘Catalogue of Birds’ Dr. Sharpe has given the dimensions of the bill in a large series 
of specimens, and has shown that the longer bill of the Western birds is often equalled 
by that of examples from Eastern North America, and he comes to the conclusion 
that they cannot be separated !°, 
Taking the two as belonging to one species, the Red-breasted Snipe breeds in Arctic 
America and passes through the United States on migration. It apparently arrives at 
the latter end of the summer, like other Waders which breed in the far north, for 
Mr. Dresser noticed M. griseus at Matamoros on the 29th of June; from that time 
onwards the birds continued to appear, some migrating further south, but a considerable 
number remaining in the neighbourhood. He shot specimens both in the grey and in 
the red plumage’. At Mazatlan, Grayson found the species by no means abundant, 
making its appearance in October and remaining for a short time only , while Sumi- 
chrast met with it in Tehuantepec in August and February 1%. Salvin records that he 
observed it in numbers on the sandbanks of Chiapam, on the Pacific side of Guatemala °®. 
The habits on migration of Macrorhamphus, as given by Mr. Elliot !*, seem to be 
remarkably like those of the European Godwits. He says that when the flocks pass 
at any height they are difficult to decoy by an imitation of their whistle; but if they 
descend to the ground their unsuspicious nature often leads them to settle close 
to the decoy-birds, when they fall easy victims to the gunner, as they frequently 
return to the same spot after having been fired at. Although supposed to have some 
affinity with the true Snipes ((allinago), the habits of Macrorhamphus are those of 
Sandpipers, with which it is accustomed to associate. Mr. Dresser says that near 
Matamoros he found J. griseus, in company with other Sandpipers, on the shores of 
the lagoons, and in Guatemala Salvin always saw it in the open, where there was 
no cover whatever, its habits strongly contrasting in this respect with those of the 
Common Snipe °. 
The nest is merely a depression amongst moss, with a slight lining of leaves and grass; 
it is found on the marshy shores of the lakes in the Arctic Regions. The eggs are four 
in number, of a drab- or fawn-colour, with shadings of rufous or olivaceous, covered 
with chocolate and sepia markings, most numerous on the larger end ”. 
MICROPALAMA. 
Micropalama, Baird, Birds N. Amer. p. 726 (1858) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 401 
(1896). 
This genus belongs to the group of Tattlers and Sandpipers, in which the bill, though 
of fair length, is not Snipe-like as in Macrorhamphus, and is not so long as the: tail. 
In Micropalama the bill is long and slender, slightly widened at the tip, which is 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. ILI., May 1903. 47 
