THE SNIPE. 165 
known, as I have stated, by the general title of Bay 
Snipe, there is but one Snipe proper, and that is one of 
‘the most numerous, and perhaps the most excellent of 
the tribes. 
The Red-breasted Snipe, Scolopax Moveboracensis— 
the “ Dowitcher,” the “Quail Snipe,” the “Brown 
Back.” 
A brace of these excellent and beautiful birds are 
depicted as thrown carelessly on the ground, under the 
neck of the Ring-tailed Marlin in the preceding sketch. 
This bird has the bill of the true snipe, Scolopaw Ame- 
ricanus, excepting only that the knob at the tip of the 
upper mandible of the bill is less distinctly marked. The 
spring plumage of this bird, in which it is depicted 
above, is on the upper parts brownish-black, variegated 
with clove-brown, and light reddish-brown, the second- 
aries and wing-coverts tipped and edged with white. 
Lower parts bright orange colored ferruginous, spotted 
with dusky, arrow-headed spots. The abdomen paler. 
The tail-feathers and upper-tail coverts alternately bar- 
red with black and white; the legs and feet dull yellow- 
ish green. 
“ At the close of April,” says Mr. Giraud, “the Red- 
breasted Snipe arrive on the coasts of Long Island. _ In- 
vited by a bountiful supply of food, at the reflux of the 
tide, it resorts to the mud-flats and shoals to partake of 
the rich supply of shell-fish and insects which nature in 
her plenitude has provided for it. As the tide advances, 
