164: AMERICAN GAME. 



die States than in the Eastern districts, and is abundant 

 in the wild and barren lands far to the northward. I 

 have seen it shot, likewise, on the swamps of the Aw^ 

 Canards, to which I have already referred. This is the 

 larger of the three birds, lying uppermost, in the group, 

 at the head of this article ; it was sketched from a fine 

 specimen shot "on the Delaware in the month of May. 

 It is thus described by Giraud in his excellent work on 

 the Birds of Long Island : 



" Bill, blackish brown, at base of lower mandible yel- 

 low ; upper parts light-brown, marked with dull-brown, 

 and a few small, white spots ; neck all round brownish- 

 gray ; lower parts white, largely marked with ferrugi- 

 nous ; basal part of tail-feathers and a band crossing the 

 rump, white. Adult with the bill slender, blackish- 

 brown toward the tip, lighter at the base, particularly at 

 the base of the lower mandible ; a line of brownish- white 

 from the bill -to the eye; lower eyelid white. Throat 

 white, spotted with rust color; head and neck brownish- 

 gray ; lower parts white, marked with large spots of 

 ferruginous ; under tail-coverts barred with brownish- 

 black and ferruginous ; tail brownish-black cast, a white 

 band at the base ; a band over the rump ; tips of primary 

 coverts and basis of quills white; upper tail-coverts 

 brownish-black, their basis white ; upper parts grayish- 

 brown, scapulars marked with darker spots ; feet bluish. 

 Length fifteen inches and a half, wing eight and a half. 



Among the various families of birds, which are all 



