RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 361 



sippi valley and the West Indies; but casual along the 

 Atlantic coast of the United States. 



In the summer or breeding plumage, the beak is reddish- 

 brown, darker at the point than at the base ; the irides 

 reddish-hazel; cheeks, top of the head, and back of the 

 neck, pale chestnut -brown, streaked with black ; upper part 

 of the back, the scapulars and tertials, nearly black, edged 

 and streaked with bright yellowish-chestnut; wing-coverts 

 and quill-feathers dusky ash-brown ; the lower part of the 

 back white ; upper tail-coverts white, spotted with black ; 

 tail-feathers barred alternately with black and white, of which 

 the black bars are broader than those which are white ; sides 

 and front of the neck, the breast and belly, reddish-chestnut, 

 spotted and barred with black; sides, flanks, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts, white, tinged with red, and spotted with 

 black ; legs and toes greenish-brown, the claws black. 



From this state these birds pass, during autumn, through 

 various shades of dark brown and ash-brown, to the ash- 

 grey plumage of winter; when the cheeks, head, and neck 

 are ash-brown, varied with darker brown ; scapulars, wing- 

 coverts, and tertials, dusky ash-brown, margined with 

 greyish-buffy white ; the lower part of the back, upper tail- 

 coverts, wing, quill, and tail-feathers as in summer ; breast 

 and belly nearly white ; flanks and under tail-coverts dull 

 white, spotted with black. 



The whole length of the bird is from ten to eleven inches, 

 depending on age and sex ; the beak also varies in length 

 from two inches to two and a half inches ; from the carpal 

 joint to the end of the first quill-feather, which is the 

 longest in the wing, five inches and five-eighths. 



VOL. in. 3 A 



