336 TELL-TALE GOD WIT, or SNIPE. 



The Tell-tale seldom flies in large flocks, at least during summer. It 

 delights in watery bogs, and the muddy margins of creeks and inlets ; 

 is either seen searching about for food, or standing in a watchful pos- 

 ture, alternately raising and lowering the head, and on the least appear- 

 ance of danger utters its shrill whistle, and mounts on wing, generally 

 accompanied by all the feathered tribes that are near. It occasionally 

 penetrates inland, along the muddy shores of our large rivers, seldom 

 higher than tide water, and then singly and solitary. They sometimes 

 rise to a great height in the air, and can be distinctly heard when 

 beyond the reach of the eye. In the fall, when they are fat, their flesh 

 is highly esteemed, and many of them are brought to our markets. 

 The colors and markings of this bird arc so like those of the preceding, 

 that unless in point of size, and the particular curvature of the bill, 

 the description of one might serve for both. 



The Tell-tale is fourteen inches and a half long, and twenty-five 

 inches in extent ; the bill is two inches and a quarter long, of a dark 

 horn color, and slightly bent upwards ; the space round the eye, chin 

 and throat, pure white ; lower part of the neck pale ashy white, speckled 

 with black ; general color of the upper parts an ashy brown, thickly 

 spotted with black and dull white, each feather being bordered and 

 spotted on the edge with black ; wing quills black ; some of the prima- 

 ries, and all of the secondaries, with their coverts, spotted round the 

 margins with black and white ; head and neck above streaked with 

 black and white ; belly and vent pure white ; rump white, dotted with 

 black ; tail also white, barred with brown ; the wings, when closed, 

 reach beyond the tail ; thighs naked nearly two inches above the knees ; 

 legs two inches and three quarters long ; feet foivr-toed, the outer joined 

 by a membrane to the middle, the whole of a rich orange yellow. The 

 female diff"ers little in plumage from the male ; sometimes the vent is 

 slightly dotted with black, and the upper parts more brown. 



Nature seems to have intended this bird as a kind of spy, or sentinel, 

 for the safety of the rest ; and so well acquainted are they with the 

 watchful vigilance of this species, that, while it continues silent among 

 them, the Ducks feed in the bogs and marshes without the least suspi- 

 cion. The great object of the gunner is to escape the penetrating 

 glance of this guardian, which is sometimes extremely difficult to effect. 

 On the first whistle of the Tell-tale, if beyond gunshot, the gunner 

 abandons his design, but not without first bestowing a few left-handed 

 blessings on the author of his disappointment. 



