35 2 The Water-fowl Family 



the gunner's gantlet. In the fall the plumage of 

 this bird takes on a gray appearance, and on this 

 account it is called grayback along the southern 

 shores, though dowitch, dowitcher, and red-breasted 

 snipe are the more common names. 



RED-BELLIED SNIPE 

 (Macrorhamphus scolopaceus) 



Adult male in summer — Top of head and back of neck, cinnamon, 

 streaked with black, a superciliary line of buff; back and wings, 

 black ; feathers margined with reddish brown and white ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts, white, barred with black ; throat, light 

 buff; front and sides of neck, cinnamon, mottled with brown ;. 

 entire under parts, cinnamon spotted with dusky on breast and 

 sides ; central tail feathers, black, barred with white and buff; 

 remainder dark brown, barred with white ; iris, brown ; bill, legs, 

 and feet, olive-green. 



Female — Closely resembles male, but is larger. 



Adult in winter — Head, back, and wings, gray, mixed with dark 

 brown ; feathers on wing-coverts, edged with light brown ; lower 

 back, rump, tail-coverts, and tail, as in summer, but without any 

 buff markings ; throat, white, faintly streaked with dusky ; neck 

 and breast, brownish gray. 



This species is distinguished from the eastern variety by its 

 slightly larger size and longer bill. In the adult plumage the 

 breast markings are less numerous and have the appearance of 

 being barred rather than spotted ; the cinnamon extends over the 

 entire abdomen, and the upper parts are more highly colored. 



Eggs — Resemble the eggs of M. griseus, already described ; measure 

 1.80 by 1.25 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds in northeast Siberia and on the coast of Alaska 

 from the Yukon Delta to Point Barrow and the Anderson 

 River, and probably south to northern British Columbia. Win- 

 ters in Florida, Louisiana, the West Indies, Mexico, and prob- 

 ably Central and South America, and is said to be a non-breeding 

 resident jn Louisiana, in the migrations is most common in 



