ZOOLOGY. 81 
note-book has the following: “June 3rd, 1853,—Mr. A. 
Hinson sent me a very fine specimen of this bird, which he 
had shot about an hour previously, in the pond near War- 
wick Church. This bird had been noticed wading about 
that piece of water for two or three days, and was killed at 
my particular request. It is the first instance on record of 
its having been met with in the Bermudas. It measured 
13%, inches in length, by 26,, mches in extent; bill, to 
the gape 2%, inches; naked portion of the tibia, 3 inches; 
tarsi, 419 inches. In the markings of the plumage, &c., this 
curious bird agreed perfectly with Wilson’s account, ex- 
cepting that the darker parts appeared to be of a black- 
purple, and the tail, a light-drab, glossed with the same 
black-purple towards the extremity. 
It proved, on dissection, to be a male bird, and was ex- 
tremely fat.” 
AMERICAN SNIPE (Scolopax Wilsoniz). Our limited know- 
ledge of the geographical distribution of this bird compels 
us to suppose that it is confined to the continents of North 
and South America. Breeding in high northern latitudes, 
it migrates in immense numbers to the south; and that 
many of these traverse the ocean in their flight, is proved by 
the regularity with which they visit the marshes of Bermuda. 
In the month of September, when the heat is still tropical, 
the snipe sometimes appears in those islands as early as the 
13th of that month ; in other seasons they are not met with 
until the commencement of October. A few couple are 
sometimes killed in April and May, but during the summer 
months it is never seen. In the season of 1846—7, a 
hundred couple of snipe were shot by the officers of the 
20th Regiment, stationed at Hamilton, and, in that of 
G 
