BAY SNIPE. S» 



a regular ornithology, rather than a guide and companion of the 

 sportsman. 



Of the Rallidaa, or Rail family, there are nine varieties ; of 

 the Charadriadae, or Plover family, there are also nine ; of the 

 Scolopacidae, or Snipe family, including Sandpipers, Tatlers, 

 Godwits, Snipe, Avoset, Stilt, and Curlew^, there are no less 

 than twenty-eight ; and of the family of Pinnatipedes, or Lobe- 

 footed Swimming Birds, there are three varieties ; besides six 

 Geese, two Swans, sixteen Sea-ducks, and four Divers, all of 

 which come, to a certain degree, within the definition of game, 

 as being objects of pursuit to the sportsman, both for the plea- 

 sure of the chase, and for the purposes of the table ; and in ad- 

 dition to these, there are seventeen members of the family of 

 GruidcB, including Cranes, Herons, Bitterns, and Ibises, which 

 are generally shot by the sportsman, when he finds an opportu- 

 nity, although they cannot be in any sort regarded as game, and 

 are not, in general, suitable for food, their flesh being, for the 

 most part, coarse, dark, and fishy. A certain number of these 

 birds, however, must be dealt with and regarded as game; I be- 

 gin, therefore, this department of my work, with what are com- 

 monly called, although only one of them correctly, 



BAY SNIPE. 



No. 1. Red-breasted Sandpiper — Tringa Islandica ; Linn. — 

 Vulgo, the Robin Snipe. 



Aflh-colored Sandpiper, Tringa cinerea, Wils. Winter. — Red-breasted Sand- 

 piper, Tringa rufa, Wils. Spring. — Tringa islandica, Bonap. Syn. — Tringa 

 cinerea, Sw. & Rich. — Knot or Ash-colored Sandpiper, Nutt. Man. — Knot 

 or Ash-colored Sandpiper, Tringa islandica, Aud. 



" Specific Character. — Bill straight, longer than the head ; tarsi 

 one inch and three-sixteenths long ; rump and upper tail coverts 

 white, barred with dark brown; region of the vent and the 

 lower tail coverts white, with dusky markings. In spring, the 



