KEY TO THE WATER niRUS OF FLORIDA. 



H3 



The eggs are pale buff color spotted with chocolate brown, more nu- 

 merously at the larger ends ; bill brown (greenish gray in life), paler at base 

 and darker tow^ard the end. 



Genus MACRORHAMPHUS Leach. 



MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEU5 {GmeL). 

 Dowitcher. Red=breasted Snipe. 



Adiilt ill siiinincr : A small web between the inner 

 toes ; upper parts blackish ; feathers edged with tawny 

 brown ; top of head blackish mottled with tawny 

 brown ; mider parts red brown, banded on the sides ; 

 throat and breast only slightly spotted, entirely with- 

 out spots in some plumages ; tail and tail coverts 

 barred with black. Bill dark olive. 



In winter : Upper parts grayish, feathers showing 

 faint edges of buff on the back ; chin and superciliary 

 stripe dull grayish white ; breast gray, showing slight 

 traces of tawny ; rest of under parts dirty white, mot- 

 tled on the crissum ; tail banded black and white. 



Length, 10.30: Wing, 5.70; Tarsus. 1.30; Bill, 2.20 



'-% 



to 2.50. 



Ranges from the x\rctic Circle to South America; common during the 

 migrations, being common in winter in Florida. It breeds in the far north, 

 eggs being pale buff or dull olive mottled and speckled with dark brown. 



MACRORHAMPHUS SCOLOPACEUS {Say.). 

 Long=billed Dowitcher. Western Red=breasted Snipe. 



Resembles the preceding species, but the bill is longer and the sides of the body are more 

 distinctly barred with black ; the principal difference is one of size. 

 Length, 11 ; Wing, 6.05 : Tarsus, 1.55 ; Bill, 2.20 to 2.60. 



This is a western species, which occasionally occm-s on the Atlantic 



coast. It is a common bird in Florida in winter. The eggs are similar in 



coloration to those of the preceding species. 



