EED-BREASTED SNIPE. 359 



wounded bird which subsequently recovered and flew away, 

 near Banff on the 25th September, 1858, and it is possible 

 that he may not believe in the correctness of its identifica- 

 tion. A similar doubt has precluded the insertion in this 

 Edition of some other recorded occurrences. 



Under the mistaken impression that this bird had been killed 

 in Sweden, and that it was also a new species, it was described 

 by Nilsson under the name of Scolopax paykulU (Orn. Swec. 

 ii. p. 106), an error he subsequently corrected. In France 

 it has several times been obtained in Picardy and Normandy; 

 and M. Taczanowski states that there are three examples in 

 the Museum of Warsaw, from Cape Tschukotsk in North- 

 eastern Siberia. Its occurrence as a straggler to the south 

 of Greenland in 1854 has been recorded by Keinhardt. 



This bird is very common in the United States of America, 

 and has frequently been described by the principal American 

 naturalists. It was formerly considered to be a true Snipe, 

 but the bill is intermediate in its length between that of the 

 true Snipes and the Sandpipers, and some other peculiari- 

 ties, in which it also differs from both, as close examination 

 will show, induced Dr. Leach to confer upon it the generic 

 distinction Macrorhamphus, by which it is now generally 

 known. Audubon, in his account of this species, says, 

 that the Creoles of Louisiana call it Becassine de mer, an 

 appropriate name for the bird, since the beak is in struc- 

 ture that of a Snipe ; while the habits and great seasonal 

 change of plumage, are those of the marine Sandpipers. 

 The English names given to this bird are not so happily 

 chosen, being of more personal application. It has been 

 called Red-breasted Snipe, Brown Snipe, and Grey Snipe ; 

 but the bird is only red during summer, brown in the autumn, 

 and grey in winter. 



The Red-breasted Snipe, as it is called by Wilson on 

 account of the prevailing colour of its summer plumage, 

 " arrives on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in April; it is 

 seldom or never seen inland ; early in May it proceeds to the 

 north to breed, and returns by the latter part of July or 

 beginning of August. During its stay it flies in flocks, 



