AMERICAN SNIPE. 



Gallinago delicata. 



The snipe is a small bird, not much more than one- 

 half the weight of a woodcock. Its bill, which is dark 

 brown and considerably swollen at the end, is more 

 than twice as long as the head. The lower portion of 

 the tibia is naked; in other words, the feathers do not 

 come down to the tarsal joint, which they reach in 

 most other birds, and perhaps in all land birds. 

 The eyes are brown, and the feet are bluish or green- 

 ish gray. The upper parts are generally black or 

 blackish brown, divided lengthwise by streaks of 

 brown and whitish. The chin is whitish and the neck 

 reddish brown spotted with darker. The scapulars are 

 streaked with reddish brown, as are also the wing 

 coverts and secondaries. The tail feathers are blackish, 

 with a broad band of brownish red near the end, and 

 the tips white. The bird's length is 10^2 inches, its 

 extent of wings from 16 to 17, and the bill is over 2^/2 

 inches long, and sometimes longer. As in the wood- 

 cock, so in the snipe, the bill is a sensitive organ of 

 touch. 



Allied to the woodcock, but wholly different from 

 it in appearance, habits and home, is the American 

 snipe, often wrongly called "English" snipe. Birds 



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