332 RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 



females, that had very little rufous below, and the backs were also much 

 lighter, and less marbled with ferruginous. The eggs contained in their 

 ovaries were some of them as large as garden peas. Their stomachs 

 contained masses of those small snail shells that lie in millions on the 

 salt marshes : the wrinkles at the base of the bill, and the red breast, 

 are strong characters of this species, as also the membrane which unites 

 the outer and middle toes together. 



The Red-breasted Snipe is ten inches and a half long, and eighteen 

 inches in extent ; the bill is about two inches and a quarter in length, 

 straight, grooved, black towards the point, and of a dirty eelskin color 

 at the base, where it is tumid and wrinkled ; lores dusky ; cheeks and 

 eyebrows pale yellowish white, mottled with specks of black ; throat and 

 breast a reddish buff color ; sides white, barred with black ; belly and 

 vent white, the latter barred with dusky ; crown, neck above, back, 

 scapulars and tertials, black, edged, mottled and marbled with yellowish 

 white, pale and bright ferruginous, much in the same manner as the 

 common Snipe ; wings plain olive, the secondaries centei'ed and bordered 

 with white ; shaft of the first quill very white ; rump, tail-coverts and 

 tail (which consists of twelve feathers) white, thickly spotted with black ; 

 legs and feet dull yellowish green ; outer toe united to the middle one 

 by a small membrane ; eye very dark. The female, which is paler on 

 the back, and less ruddy on the breast, has been described by Mr. 

 Pennant as a separate species.* 



These birds doubtless breed not far to the northward of the United 

 States, if we may judge from the lateness of the season when they leave 

 us in spring ; the largeness of the eggs in the ovaries of the females 

 before they depart, and the short period of time they are absent. Of 

 all our sea-side Snipes it is the most numerous, and the most delicious 

 for the table. 



From these circumstances and the crowded manner in which it flies 

 and settles, it is the most eagerly sought after by our gunners, who 

 send them to market in great numbers. 



* See his Brown Snipe, Arct. Zool. No. 369. 



