180 SNIPE SHOOTING. 



blue hawk. This bird, in running, has a peculiar 

 motion, or jerk, with the tail, which it outspreads at 

 the time in a fan-like manner. Its flight is rapid, 

 but tortuous. It is thin in August, and not then 

 very good eating ; about November it is as full and 

 fat as the epicure can desire. It is not a shy bird, 

 except where it congregates together, when it becomes 

 much more wary and timid. There are often-occur- 

 ring varieties of this, as well as all the other species 

 of the feathered tribes. There is the Ked-breasted 

 Snipe (Scolopax novaborencis) :' "In 1803, a small 

 flock of these was seen in Devonshire." Bewick 

 speaks of a singular field snipe, that was shot near 

 Offord : " Its throat, breast, back, and wings, were 

 beautifully covered or streaked with white ; and on 

 its forehead was a star of the natural colour : it had 

 also a ring round the neck and tail, with the tips of 

 the wings of the same colour." We have ourselves 

 seen an odd brick or orange legged snipe. The Red- 

 breasted Snipe is indifferently named by British 

 authors, the Brown Longbeak, Brown Snipe, Red- 

 breasted Snipe, Grey Snipe, from the varieties of its 

 winter and summer plumage : it is of the genus 

 Macrorhampus. and not one of the true snipes; is 

 known as far north as the Arctic Sea, and is speci- 

 fically a native of North America. 



The Great Snipe (Scolopax major). In the 

 southern districts of our island we find this snipe as 

 an occasional bird of passage. It is of unusual occur- 

 rence both in Ireland and Scotland. Jardine men- 



