SPECIES 6. SCOLOPAX VOCIFERUS. 



TELL-TALE GODWIT, OR SNIPE. 



[Plate L VIII. Fig. 5.] 



Stone Snipe, Arct. Zool. p. 468, JVo. S76.Tuivr. Syst.p.396. 

 PEALE'S Museum, JVu. 3940.* 



THIS species, and the preceding, are both well known to our 

 Duck-gunners, along the seacoast and marshes, by whom they 

 are detested, and stigmatized with the names of the greater and 

 lesser Tell-tale, for their faithful vigilance in alarming the 

 Ducks with their loud and shrill whistle, on the first glimpse 

 of the gunner's approach. Of the two the present species is by 

 far the most watchful; and its whistle, which consists of four 

 notes rapidly repeated, is so loud, shrill and alarming, as in- 

 stantly to arouse every Duck within its hearing, and thus dis- 

 appoints the eager expectations of the shooter. Yet the cunning 

 and experience of the latter, is frequently more than a match 

 for all of them, and before the poor Tell-tale is aware, his 

 warning voice is hushed for ever, and his dead body mingled 

 with those of his associates. 



, This bird arrives on our coast early in April, breeds in the 

 marshes, and continues until November, about the middle of 

 which month it generally moves off to the south. The nest, I 

 have been informed, is built in a tuft of thick grass, generally 

 on the borders of a bog or morass. The female, it is said, lays 

 four eggs, of a dingy white, irregularly marked with black. 



These birds appear to be unknown in Europe. They are 

 simply mentioned by Mr. Pennant, as having been observed 

 in autumn, feeding on the sands on the lower part of Chatteaux 



* Scolopaxmelanoleuca, GMEL. Syst. i,p. 659, JVo. 32. LATH. 1ml. Orn. p. 723, 

 JVb. 28. Spotted Snipe, LATH, Hyn. HI, p. 149, var. A. Tvtanus melanoleucos , 

 ORD, reprint, TII, p. 61. 



