and the Maritime Provinces. 117 



fact, I have sometimes thought they were among the most stupid of the 

 waders." 



" There is another bird, called the ' robin snipe, ' " said the Judge, who 

 had been attentively listening to our conversation. " I used to get a good 

 many on the shores of Long island in my college days, but it was a shorter- 

 billed bird than the red-breasted snipe." 



"Yes," I replied; "the bird you refer to is the red-breasted sand- 

 piper, and is not a snipe at all : it is the Tringa islandica of Linnaeus, and 

 is now called the Tringa canutus. Like all our shore birds, it is known 

 among sportsmen by a multiplicity of names, the most common of which 

 are the grayback, beach robin, knot, ash-colored sandpiper, red-breast 

 plover, white-robin snipe, and robin-breast." 



" I think we used to call it the robin snipe because its breast was 

 almost of the color of that of the robin," said the Judge. 



"Yes," added the Doctor, " but that must have been in the spring, for 

 in the autumn the under plumage is white or grayish-white, hence its famil- 

 iar name of white-robin snipe. It arrives in its spring migration early 

 in May, but remains with us only a short time, its breeding grounds being 

 in the Arctic regions. It frequents, as you well know, the flats and the 

 shoal ponds on the marshes, where it employs itself in searching for small 

 shell-fish. In the spring it decoys readily, but in the autumn it is rather 

 suspicious. It returns to us often by the tenth of August, and moves 

 southward late in September. It is a rapid runner along the beach, and is 

 often seen following the retreating waves in pursuit of the small shells, 

 shrimp, etc., upon which it subsists." 



" It is a swift bird on the wing," added the Judge. " I remember that 

 I used to wonder at the speed with which it passed my decoys. It is not as 

 acceptable on the table as many of the other shore birds, although it 

 becomes very plump when it has an abundance of food." 



" The varieties of shore birds are so many in number," said the Doc- 

 tor, " and their plumage varies so much that it is not strange sportsmen 

 make mistakes. I have been in blinds with old gunners, who thought they 

 knew all the ' bay birds,' but they sometimes blundered terribly. The 

 name 'jack snipe ' is the most pronounced misnomer, for the bird is not a 

 snipe at all." 



" You are right, Doctor," said I ; " I have always wondered at the title 

 being bestowed upon it. The jack snipe of southern gunners is the 

 pectoral sandpiper, the Tringa maculata of ornithologists. I suppose, 

 however, that its name was given it from its habit of lying to the dog and 

 flushing and flying zigzag, above the surface of the meadow, like the com- 

 mon snipe. It is called, in different localities, the meadow snipe, krieker, 

 grass snipe, short neck, fat bird, and brown bird. Its stay with us in the 

 spring is very short, in fact, it makes no stop except for food. 



