PARAGUAY SNIPE 195 
PARAGUAY SNIPE 
Gallinago paraguaiz 
Above brown, striped and barred with black and pale fulvous ; 
wings dark cinereous edged with white; tail of sixteen rectrices, of 
which the outer pair are pin-shaped ; beneath white, breast marbled 
with blackish and brown; length 10.5, wing 9.1 inches. 
Tuis familiar bird, called Agachona in the vernacular, 
from its habit of crouching close to the ground to 
escape observation when approached, is abundant in 
the Plata district and resident, although its sudden 
and total disappearance from all the open wet places 
where it is common in the winter gives one the 
impression that it is migratory. The bird, however, 
only retires to breed in the extensive lonely marshes. 
The nest is a slight depression on the moist ground 
close to the water, and lined with a little withered 
grass. The eggs are four, pear-shaped, and spotted 
with black on an olive-coloured ground. 
After the summer heats are over Snipes suddenly 
appear again all over the country, and at this season 
they are frequently met with on the high and dry 
grounds among the withered grass and thistles. In 
favourable wet seasons they sometimes collect in 
large flocks, numbering not less than five or six 
hundred birds, and a flock of this kind will occasion- 
ally remain in one spot for several months without 
breaking up. They usually frequent an open spot of 
level ground where the water just covers the roots 
of the short grass ; here the birds keep close together 
