176 SCOLOPACIDiE. 



a peculiar and unsnipe-like habit in the spring of occa- 

 sionally alighting on rails and branches of trees, to the 

 great wonderment of the sportsman just arrived from 

 the " old country," though I never saw it do so myself. 



The plumage is darker than in the European bird, 

 the entire upper parts being of a very deep brown, 

 inclining to black, each feather marked and tipped with 

 light reddish- brown and dirty grey. The neck is a 

 reddish colour, and the under parts are grey barred with 

 very dark brown or black. The wings and tail are also 

 brownish black, and the latter, tipped with a reddish 

 bar, has one or two light coloured feathers on each side. 



In point of size also this bird differs from our 

 snipe. While the latter, as most sportsmen are aware, 

 measures thirteen inches in length, the former is only 

 ten and a half inches. These measurements refer to the 

 male only, the female bird of each species being rather 

 larger. 



The nest of the American snipe is rude and simple, 

 and is made on the ground without the slightest 

 regard to concealment. It generally contains four pale 

 olive-coloured eggs, rather lengthened in form, and 

 spotted with brown, more thickly so at the obtuse end 

 of the egg. They breed only once in the year, and 

 almost exclusively in the higher latitudes. 



The most northern limit of these birds is pei-haps 



