298 The Snpe, 



by bestowing upon it tbe title of Scolopax Wilsonii, or Wilson's 

 Snipe, a compliment not less deserved than generously awarded. 

 Wilson states that the American Snipe has the same soaring* 

 irregular flight in the air during gloomy weather, as the Snipe 

 of Europe ; the same bleating note and occasional rapid descent ; 

 springs from the marshes with the like feeble " squeak," and in 

 every respects resembles the common Snipe of Britain, except in 

 being about one inch less, and in having sixteen feathers in the tail 

 instead of fourteen. Audubon, however, informs us that the notes 

 of the two varieties are quite dissimilar, in fact, as diflerent from 

 each other as those of the American Crow and the Carrion Crow 

 of Europe, and expresses some surprise that Wilson should not 

 have mentioned this diflerence. 



Frank Forrester, on the other hand, observes that the cry of the 

 two varieties \'?>'perfectly identical^ and in this statement, he further 

 remarks that he is corroborated by the judgment of several Eng- 

 lish sportsmen with whom he has frequently shot. 



This Snipe is known in Britain as the Common Snipe, Snipe, or 

 Heather-bl eater, and with us is called English Snipe or Wilson's 

 Snipe. In Louisiana, the Creoles term it cache-cache^ the deriva- 

 tion of which, we imagine, arose from the well-known retired or 

 lurkino* habits of the bird. 



*' The Snipe is eleven inches long, seventeen inches in extent ; 

 the bill over two inches and a-half long, fluted lengthwise ; brown 

 color ; black towards the tip, crown black, divided by an irregu- 

 lar line of pale brown ; another broader hue of the same tint pas- 

 ses over each eye ; from the bill to the eye there is a narrow dusky 

 line ; neck and upper part of the breast pale brown, variegated 

 with touches of white and dusky ; chin pale ; back and scapulars 

 deep velvety black, the latter elegantly marbled with waving lines 

 of ferruginous, and broadly edged, exteriorly, with white ; wings 

 plain dusky ; all the feathers, as well as those of the coverts, tipped 

 with white ; shoulder of the wing deep dusky brown, exterior 

 quill edged with white ; tail coverts long, reaching within three- 

 quarters of an inch of the tip, and of a pale rust-color, spotted 

 with black ; tail rounded, deep black, ending in a bar of bright 

 ferruginous, crossed with a narrow waving line of black, and tipped 

 with v/hitish ; belly pure white; sides barred with dusky; legs 

 and feet a very pale, ashy green ; sometimes the whole thighs and 

 sides of the vent are barred with dusky and white. The female 



