SNIPE 155 



and the large bird from the south of Norway and 

 Sweden, and from Denmark and North Germany. 



SNIPE. 



Three kinds of snipe are met with in the British 

 Islands. These are the Great or Solitary Snipe, the 

 Common Snipe, and the Jack Snipe. Some little con- 

 fusion has long existed with regard to the identification 

 or classification of snipe-like birds amongst those who 

 either have had few opportunities for comparing the 

 various species of long-billed marsh-frequenting birds, 

 or, if they have, are careless in the matter of their 

 observations. Thus it has come about that certain 

 small shore-birds are frequently designated as snipe. 

 For instance, the Dunlin (Tringa alpina) is oftentimes 

 called sand- or sea-snipe. This common object of the 

 sea-shore is not, however, a true snipe, but a sand- 

 piper. Moreover, it is distinctly a denizen of the sea- 

 shore, and the snipe is not ; besides, dunlin are habitu- 

 ally gregarious, whereas snipe seldom, or, indeed, never 

 move about and marshal themselves in flocks as do 

 dunlin. Again, the Common Sandpiper (Tringoides 

 hypoleucus], so often seen alongside inland trout streams 

 and waters, has come to be commonly designated as 

 " Summer Snipe " by anglers and others. In America 

 the Pectoral Sandpiper (Tringa maculata) is termed 

 " Grass Snipe," whilst the Knot ( Tringa canutus) is 

 called " Robin Snipe," doubtless on account of the 

 reddish-chestnut breast feathers assumed by the bird 

 in the breeding season. Those who meet with or shoot 

 the birds above enumerated in their respective haunts, 

 and are in doubt as to their due classification, may take 



