SNIPE SHOOTING. 



WILSON'S SNIPE SCOLOPAX WILSONII. 



Description. " The snipe is eleven inches 

 long, and seventeen in extent; the bill is more 

 than two and a half inches long, fluted length- 

 wise, of a brown color, and black towards the 

 tip, where it is very smooth while the bird is 

 alive, but soon after it is killed, becomes dim- 

 pled, like the end of a thimble ; crown black, 

 divided by an irregular line of pale brown; 

 another broader one, of the same tint, passes 

 over each eye ; from the bill to the eye, there is 

 a narrow, dusky line ; neck and upper part of 

 the breast pale brown, variegated with touches 

 of white and dusky ; chin, pale ; back and sca- 

 pulars, deep velvety black, the latter elegantly 

 marbled with waving lines of ferruginous, and 

 broadly edged exteriorly with white ; wings 

 plain dusky, all the feathers, as well as those of 

 the coverts, tipped with white ; shoulder of the 

 wing, deep dusky brown, exterior quill, edged 

 with white ; tail coverts long, reaching within 

 three-quarters of an inch of the tip, and of a pale 



