RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 



LIMICOL.E. 



SCOLOPACID^. 



Maceorhamphus griseus (Gmelin*). 

 THE EED-BREASTED SNIPE. 

 Macrorhamphus griseus. 



Macrorhamphus, Leach t. — Beak long, straight, rounded, rather slender in 

 the middle, the tip dilated, slightly incurved and rugose. Nostrils lateral, basal. 

 Legs with four toes, the outer toes connected at their base by a membrane ; 

 hinder toe touching the ground only at the tip ; lower part of the tibia naked. 

 Wings long and pointed. Tail-feathers twelve in number. 



The Red-breasted or Brown Snipe is an American 

 species which was first made known as a straggler to Britain 

 by Colonel Montagu, who described it in his Ornithological 

 Dictionary, and gave a figure of it in its winter plumage in 

 his Supplement. This example, which was killed in Devon- 

 shire in the month of October, is preserved in the British 

 Museum. According to Dr. Edward Moore (Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1837, p. 321), a second Devonshire example is in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. Drew. A young bird was shot near Carlisle on 



* Scolopax grisea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 658 (1788). 

 + Cat. Mamm. and Birds Brit. Mus. p. 31 (1816). 



