164. AMERICAN GAME. 
dle States than in the Eastern districts, and is abundant 
in the wild and barren lands far to the northward. I 
have seen it shot, likewise, on the swamps of the Aus 
Canards, to which I have already referred. This is the 
larger of the three birds, lying uppermost, in the group, 
at the head of this article; it was sketched from a fine 
specimen shot on the Delaware in the month of May. 
It is thus described by Giraud in his excellent work on 
the Birds of Long Island : 
“ Bill, blackish brown,-at base of lower mandible yel- 
low; upper parts light-brown, marked with dull-brown, 
and a few small, white spots; neck all round brownish- 
gray ; lower parts white; largely marked with ferrugi- 
nous ; basal part of tail-feathers and a band crossing the 
rump, white. Adult with the bill slender, blackish- 
brown toward the tip, lighter at the base, particularly at 
the base of the lower mandible ; a line of brownish-white 
from the bill to the eye; lower eyelid white. Throat 
white, spotted with rust color; head and neck brownish- 
gray ; lower parts white, marked with large spots of 
ferruginous; under tail-coverts barred with brownish- 
black and ferruginous ; tail brownish-black cast, a white 
band at the base; a band over the rump ; tips of primary 
coverts and basis of quills white; upper tail-coverts 
brownish-black, their basis white; upper parts grayish- 
brown, scapulars marked with darker spots; feet bluish. 
Length fifteen inches and a half, wing eight and a half. 
Among the various families of birds, which are all 
