476 MACEORHAMPHUS GRISEUS, RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 



hopeless nnuklle about our Bob White before us. "Jack Snipe" is 

 another soubriquet of this bird, of no obvious api)lication, indeed, but 

 not particidarly bad, though the same term is also used to designate 

 the Pectoral Sandpiper {Actodromas maculata). 



Throughout the greater part of the United States the Snipe is found 

 only during the migrations, and in winter. It breeds, however, in 

 Northern New England, and may do so along other jiortions of our 

 northern border, although I have not so determined. Mr. Tripi)e speaks 

 of its common occurrence in Minnesota, from April to the close of Octo- 

 ber, but adds that he did not observe it to bieed. In Northern Dakota, 

 likewise, where I enjoyed excellent Snipe-shooting late in September, I 

 found nothing to indicate its summer residence there. It is almost ex- 

 clusively a migrant through the Missouri region, thoagh some probably 

 winter in the southern portions. Its migrations are ])ushed, at that 

 season, even to South America, and it also occurs in Mexico, Central 

 America, and the West Indies, according to numerous extralimital 

 quotations. The eggs of Wilson's Snipe are moderately pyriform, and 

 measure about l.CO by 1.12 ; some, however, being so small as 1.50 \>j 

 1.05. The ground color is a grayish-olive, with more or less brownish 

 shade in different specimens. The markings are numerous, generally 

 heavy, and often massed, though, as a rule, distinct; thej' may appear 

 all over the surface, but are always thickest and largest on the major 

 half of the Qg^. The color is umber-brown, of varying shade, according 

 to the depth or quantity of pigment. Witli these surface markings are 

 associated some paler or obscure shell spots, not ordinarily so noticeable, 

 however, as in some other species. And over all we find, in occasional 

 specimens, curious sharp, straggling lines of what appears to be pure 

 black. The other markings have the ordinary splashed or blotched 

 character. The nest-complement is three or four. A set of eggs in the 

 Smithsonian is labeled Oneida County, New York. The nest is a mere 

 depression in the grass or moss of a boggy meadow ; the down of the 

 newly-hatched young is mottled with white, ashy, ochrey, and dark 

 brown. 



MACEORHAMPHUS GEISEUS, (Gm.) Leach. 



Re(M)i*eHste(l Sniyc; Gray Snipe. 



Scolopax (/riaea, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 658. — Lath., lud. Orn. ii, 1790, 724 (based on 

 Brown Snipe, Penn., Arct. Zool. ii, 464, No. 3()9; Lath., Svh. v, 154). — Temm., 

 Man. ii, 1820, 679.— Flem., Br. An 106.— Jexyns, Man. Brit. Vert. 2U7.— Schi.., 

 Rev. Crit. Ois. Eur. 86. 



Scolopax (Afacmrhamphus) grisca, Bp., Syn. 1828, 3;W, No. 267. — Nutt., Man. ii, 1834, 181. 



MacrorJiamphuH qrisi'us, Leach, Cat. Brit. Mas. 1816, 31. — Steph., Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, 

 1824, 61.— Eyt., Cat. Br. B. 40,— Key.s. & Blas., Wirb. Eur. 75.— Macgil., Man. 

 Orn. ii, 100.— Gkay, Gen. of B. iii, 1849, 582.— Bp., Am. Orn. iv, 1832, 51, pi. 23, 

 lig. 3 ; List, 1838, 52.— Gundl., J. f. O. iv, 1856, 350 (Cuba).— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 

 712.— Coop. & Stick., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 238 (May, perhaps breedin^r.)— 

 Salv., Ibis, 1860, 277; 1865, 191 (Guatemala).— Wheat., Ohio A^mc. Rep. 1860, 

 No. 204.— Reixh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 11 (Greenland).— Beas., B. Eur. ed. Newt. 1862, 

 18 (Eu<;land; quotes Y.vui;., ii, 621). — Boahom., Pr. Bost. Soc. ix, 1862, 128 

 (Maine, sniumer visitant). — Vehk., Pr. Ess. Inst, iii, 1862, 159 (Maine, coast in 

 snmnjer).— Aleex, ibid, iv, 1864, 86.— MclLwn., ibid, v, 1866, 92 (rare in .spring; 

 Hamilton, C. W.). — Coue.s. ibid, v, 1868, 293 (New England, chiefly jriigratory ). — 

 Lawi:., Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii, 274 (Cuba); 479 (Panama); viii, 1864, 101 (Som- 

 brero); viii, 1866, 293.— Di!E8s., Ibis, 1866, 36 (Matamoras).— Dale & Baxx., 

 Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 291 (Alaska, breeding).— TuKxu., B. E. Pa. 1869, 30 

 (April and August). — CoiES, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 1868, 122 (South Carolina) ; Pr. 

 Phila. Acad. 1861, 229 (Labrador); 1866, 97 (Arizona); 1871, 30 (North Caro- 

 lina).— Aeeex, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 181 (Utah).— Tihppe, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 

 1872, 241 (Iowa). — Mayx., Guide, 1870, 139 (Massachusetts, migratory). — CoUES, 



