198 SCOLOPACID^ : SNIPE, ETC. 



aim. On the other hand, to wait till the bird is done 

 with zigzagging necessitates waiting till he has begun 

 zigzagging, and, as he generally does not zigzag at all, 

 this involves waiting some time. From the expression, 

 'zigzag flight,' would not the natural impression be that 

 the bird kept darting rapidly, with short, quick short 

 turns from side to side } That such is the Snipe's 

 usual flight is certainly not true, though it is undoubt- 

 edly often rapid and sometimes eccentric. The author's 

 experience is for these days of rapid travel limited, but 

 after shooting Snipe at different seasons in the British 

 Provinces, in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 

 Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina, 

 he ventures to assert that they almost never 'zigzag' in 

 their flight." 



RED-BREASTED SNIPE; GRAY SNIPE; 

 BROWN BACK; DOWITCHER. 



Macrorhamphus griseus {Gm.) Leach. 



Chars. This Snipe as about as large as Wilson's, and the bill 

 is exactly as in that species. It is distinguished by the greater 

 length of the legs, the whole naked portion being about 3.50 

 inches long, of which the bare part of the tibia is 0.75 of an 

 inch; by a web between the outer and middle toes; by 12 

 instead of 16 tail feathers, and many points of coloration. Tail 

 and its coverts, with lining of wings and axillars, beautifully 

 barred with black and white or tawny; shaft of first primary 

 white. In breeding plumage, brownish-black above, variegated 

 with bay ; reddish-brown below, variegated with dusky ; a tawny 

 superciliary and dusky loral stripe. At other seasons, dark 

 gray above, the feathers with dusky centres and pale gray or 

 whitish edges ; lower back pure white ; superciliary line and spot 

 on under eyelid white ; below, white, the jugulum, fore-breast. 



