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it is usually very fat, and is considered excellent eating. In autumn, 

 the plumage is so entirely different from that of spring, that by 

 gunners generally it is considered a distinct species, and is called 

 by them at that season "Winter Snipe." It then resembles the au- 

 tumnal dress of the Curlew Sandpiper, the form and length of their 

 bills being not unlike. By persons not accustomed to comparing 

 birds, the two species might easily be confounded. The neck of 

 the latter is longer and more slender— the head smaller and more 

 rounded — the wings and legs longer — and with its general superi- 

 ority in size, is sufficient to determine the species. 



The Red-backed Sandpiper is found during autumn on the sandy 

 and muddy shores along the whole extent of the coast of the United 

 States. It is a restless, active bird, and gleans its food with great 

 nimbleness, and seems to be fond of continually changing its posi- 

 tion. Soon after alighting, they collect together, and make a 

 short excursion over the water, again alighting a short distance 

 from where they had previously taken wing. During their serial 

 excursions, when whirling about, they crowd so close together, that 

 many are killed at a single shot. On one of these occasions, Mr. 

 Brasher informs me that he killed fifty-two, by discharging both 

 barrels into a flock. This number is greater than I ever before 

 heard of; but from ten to fifteen is not unusual. 



To the curious who are fond of speculating on anomalies, I will 

 mention a coincidence connected with an individual of this species, 

 that 1 am at a loss to account for. In the month of November, 

 1840, a gentleman shot a Red-backed Sandpiper. Not recognising 

 it in its winter dress, and supposing it to be something unusual, he 

 had the politeness to forward it to my address. It being a very 

 common species, and having in my cabinet several duplicates in 

 both spring and winter plumage, I did not think it worth preserving. 

 I threw it carelessly on my table, where it remained for two or three 

 weeks without receiving further notice. At the expiration of that 

 time, my attention was again called to it, when I was somewhat 

 surprised to find it in as good condition as when I had first received 

 it. It having been shot about three weeks, and during the time 

 that it was in my possession kept in a room in which almost every 



