BAY-BIRDS. 283 



Keieker. 



Meadow Snipe, Fat Bird, Short Neck, Jaclc Snipe, Pec- 

 toral Sandpiper. 



Tringa Pectoralis, Aud. 



This is an excellent bird, remaining in the meadows 

 till October, and becoming fat, rich, and fine fla- 

 voi'ed, but unfortunately it will not come to the 

 stools. Although frequently associating in flocks, it 

 can hardly be said to be truly gregarious, and is as 

 often found with the different varieties of small snipe 

 as with its own number. It is quite a difficult bird to 

 kill when on the wing, its flight being rapid and 

 irregular, and its size small; but when it becomes 

 fat and lazy, after a long residence in well supplied 

 feeding-grounds, not only is its flight slower and it- 

 self easier to hit, but it is often shot sitting. Its 

 general color is grey, with white on the abdomen ; 

 and its size varies greatly according to its age and 

 condition, some being of more than double the size 

 of others. As a natural consequence, considerable 

 practice is required to distinguish it readily from the 

 ox-eyes by which it is often surrounded, when the 

 meadow grass hides it, in a measui'e, from view. It 

 feeds and dwells altogether in the meadows, finding 

 its food in the stagnant water collected upon their 

 surface, and is only plentiful when these are wet. 

 When alarmed, it rises rapidly, and makes off in a 

 zigzag way, that reminds the sportsman of the flight 

 of English snipe ; and early in the season it is wild 

 and shy. It occasionally passes over the stools, but 



