WILSON'S SNIPE. 



Gallinago Wilsonii ; Bonaparte. English Snipe. American Snipe. Jack Snipe. 

 Sliad Spirit. 



A MIGRATORY species, North America. Crown black with 

 a pale central stripe, back variegated with black, bright bay 

 and tawny, the latter forming two lengthwise stripes on the scap- 

 ular, neck and breast spotted with brown and dusky, tail barred 

 with black, white and chestnut. 



This, the most universally distributed of all our game birds, is 

 also the only one we believe, excepting some varieties of our ducks, 

 found on both sides of the Rocky Mountains. That remarkable 

 range which has separated species more effectually than either 

 ocean, has yet proved an insufficient barrier against the general 

 diffusion of this species. There has been a deal of discussion in 

 regard to the identity of this bird with one of the European repre- 

 sentatives of the genus, but our bird is now decided to be a distinct 

 variety although very similar. 



The arrival of the Wilson's Snipe with us in the spring is very 

 uncertain, and depends entirely upon the state of the season. If, 

 after a cold and blustering winter, March suddenly opens warm 

 and genial, which is seldom the case, and the frost is drawn from 

 the ground by the sun's rays, we may expect the bird soon to be 

 on our meadows ; but not often does he reach us before the middle 

 of the month, and then in small numbers, uneasy in its habits, and 

 scarcely lying to the dog. By the last of March, or the first of 

 April, the great flight of birds arrives from the Southern States, 

 and, like the woodcock, the prevalence of a warm rain appears to 

 be chosen for the migration. The average appearance of the Snipe 

 from Delaware eastward may, in favorable seasons, be set down as 

 about April first, but frequently when the spring is late, and winter 

 has lingered into April, we find it passing hurriedly northward, 



