196 lewis's AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



the marshes with the like feeble "squeak," and in every respect 

 resembles the common snipe of Britain, except in being about one 

 inch less, and in having sixteen feathers in the tail instead of four- 

 teen. Audubon, however, informs us that the notes of the two 

 varieties are quite dissimilar, — in fact, as different from each other 

 as those of the American crow and the carrion-crow of Europe, 

 and expresses some surprise that Wilson should not have men- 

 tioned this difference. . 



Frank Forrester, on the other hand, observes 'that the cry of 

 the two varieties is perfectly identical, and in this statement he 

 further remarks that he is corroborated by the judgment of several 

 English sportsmen, with whom he has frequently shot. 



This snipe is known in Britain as the common snipe, snite, or 

 heather-bleater, and with us is called English snipe, or Wilson's 

 snipe. In Louisiana, the Creoles term it cache-cache, the deriva- 

 tion of which, we imagine, arose from the well-known retired or 

 lurking habits of the bird. 



"The snipe is eleven inches long, seventeen inches in extent; 

 the bill over two inches and a half long, fluted lengthwise ; brown 

 color; black towards the tip, crown black, divided by an irregular 

 line of pale brown; another broader one of the same tint passes 

 over each eye; from the bill to the eye there is a narrow dusky 

 line ; neck and upper part of the breast pale brown, variegated 

 with touches of white and dusky : chin pale ; back and scapulars 

 deep velvety black, the latter elegantly marbled with waving lines 

 of ferruginous, and broadly edged exteriorly with white; wings 

 plain dusky, all the feathers, as well as those of the coverts, 

 tipped with white ; shoulder of the wing deep dusky-brown, exterior 

 quill edged with white; tail-coverts long, reaching within three- 

 quarters of an inch of the tip, and of a pale rust-color, spotted 

 with black ; tail rounded, deep black, ending in a bright ferru- 

 ginous bar, crossed with a narrow waving line of black, and tipped 

 with whitish ; belly pure white ; sides barred with dusky lines ; 

 legs and feet a very pale ashy-green ; sometimes the whole thighs 

 and sides of the vent are barred with dusky and white. The 



