; 
. 
b 
BIRDS—SCOLOPACIDAE—TRINGA CANUTUS. 715 
middle toe without its claw. The claws are all short, blunt, and much curved. The tail is 
rather wedge-shaped. The body is full and compact, standing very low on the legs. 
Schoeniclus.—The bare portion of the tibia is not quite half the tarsus. The bill is decidedly 
“decurved from the middle and depressed at tip. The toes are short, but straight and acute. 
The difference from Hrolia appears very slight. 
Tringa, Linn. 
TRINGA CANUTUS, Linn. 
Gray Backs; Robin Snipe. 
Tringa canutus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 251.—Bow. List, 1838. 
Tringa ferruginea, Brunnicu, Orn. Bor. 1764, No. 186. 
Tringa cinerea, Gme.in, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 673.—Witson, Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 36; pl. lvii. 
2? Tringa australis, Gu. 1, 679. 
Tringa islandica, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 682.—Avp. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 130; pl. 315.—Is. Syn. 232.—Is. 
Birds Am. V, 1842, 254 ; pl. 328. 
Tringa naevia and grisea, Gu. 1, 681. 
Tringa rufa, Wits. Am. Orn. VI, 1813, 57 ; pl. vii. 
Ficures.—Buffon, Pl. Enl. 365, 366.—Edwards, Birds, pl. 276 —Wilson, Am. Orn. VII, pl. 57, figs. 2, 5.—Aud. B, of Am. 
pl. 315; oct. ed. V, pl. 328.—Gould, B. of Eur. 1V, pl. 324.—Naumann, B. of Germany, pl. 183. 
Sp. Cu.—Large ; bill straight, rather longer than the head, compressed, slightly enlarged at the tip; upper mandible with 
the nasal groove extending to near the tip ; legs moderate ; tibia with its lower third part naked ; neck moderate; wing long ; 
tail short. Toes free at base, flattened beneath, widely margined ; hind toe slender, small. Entire upper parts light gray, with 
lanceolate, linear, and irregular spots of black, and others of pale reddish ; ramp and upper tail coverts white, with transverse 
narrow bands and crescent-shaped spots of black. Under parts light brownish red, paler in the middle of the abdomen ; under 
tail coverts, tibial feathers, flanks, axillary feathers, and under wing coverts white, generally with spots and transverse bars of 
brownish black. Quills brownish black, with their shafts white ; tail light brownish cinereous, (without spots or bars) ; all the 
feathers edged with white, and frequently with a second sub-edging of dark brown. Bill brownish black ; legs greenish black. 
Young and winter plumage.—Upper parts brownish ashy, darker on the back, every feather having a sub-terminal edging of 
brownish black, and tipped with dull ashy white; rump white, with crescents of black ; under parts dull ashy white, nearly 
pure on the abdomen, but with numerous longitudinal lines, and small spots of dark brown on the breast and neck ; sides with 
crescent-shaped and irregular spots of brownish black. An obscure line of dull white over and behind the eye. Total length, 
(from tip of bill to end of tail,) about 10 inches ; wing, 6} ; tail, 24; bill from gape, 13 ; tarsus, 1j inches. Female larger? 
Hab.—FEastern North America ; Europe. 
This is the largest of the sandpipers of the United States, and appears to be restricted to the 
shores of the Atlantic in this division of the continent of America. We have never seen it 
from the Pacific coast. 
In the United States this bird is known as the red-breasted snipe, or sometimes as the gray- 
backed snipe, though we have never heard the name ‘‘ Knot’’ applied to it, which appears to be 
a common appellation of the same species in Europe, and is given by American authors. This 
is one of the few species of birds which appears to be absolutely identical with a species of 
Europe, and is of very extensive diffusion over the world, especially in the season of southern 
migration. 
This bird has received a variety of names, of which the very first appears to be that adopted 
at the head of this article. 
