WILSON'S SNIPE. 



english snipe. common snipe. jack snipe. shad bird. 



Gallinago delicata. 



Char. Above, mottled brown, black, and buff ; tail with subterminal 

 bars of rufous and black ; crown dusky, with medial stripe of buff; neck 

 and breast pale brown, spotted with dusky; belly white, sides with dark 

 bars. Length about ii inches. 



Nest. Amid a tussock of grass or bunch of moss in a wet meadow or 

 margin of a marsh, — a slight depression in the turf sparingly lined with 

 grass, leaves, or feathers. 



Eggs. 3-4 ; olive of various shades, spotted with brown and lavender ; 

 1.55 X 1. 10. 



The Snipe of North America, so nearly related to that of 

 Europe, is found, according to the season, in every part of the 

 continent, from Hudson Bay to Cayenne, and does not appear, 

 indeed, sufficiently distinct from the Brazilian Snipe of Swain- 

 son, which inhabits abundantly the whole of South America as 

 far as Chili. Many winter in the marshes and inundated river 

 grounds of the Southern States of the Union, where they are 



