SNIPE. 191 



Inhabits America, and appears at New York the end of April 

 or beginning of May ; lays from five to eight eggs, in the swampy 

 woods, on the ground, or on the stump of a decayed tree ; they are 

 one inch and a half long, and one inch in diameter ; clay-colour, 

 with spots of brown, and others of pale purple; while the hen is 

 sitting, the male is observed, in the evening, to fly up to a great 

 height perpendicularly, and to return straight down to the same 

 spot ; and from the moment of its descent begins an agreeable kind 

 of whistle, continuing till it alights on the ground, repeating this at 

 intervals for several times together, and sometimes even after it is 

 dark; has been found in Carolina in September:* the flesh thought 

 to be as good as that of the European Species. 



3— GREAT SNIPE. 



Scolopax major, Ind, Om. ii. 714. 4. Gm. Lin. i. 66. Temm. Man. p. 438. Id. Ed, 



ii. 675. 

 Scolopax Gallina, Sepp, Vog. iii. t. 427. 



media, Frisch, t. 228. Gerin. iv. t. 446. 



atra, Gerin, iv. t 450 ? 



La Becassine, Voy. d'Azara, \v. No. 387.— Premiere espece. 



Mittelschnepfe, Bechst. Deutsch.m. 108. 



Doppelschnepfe, Klein, Ov. t. xi. f. 3. 4. Naturf. xiii. 211. 



Great Snipe, Gen. Syn. v. p. 133. 4. Id. Sup. ii. p. 308. Br. Zool. 1812. ii. p. 63. 



Bewick, ii. p. 67. Lewin, iv. pi. 157. Wale. ii. 1. 137. Pult. Dors. p. 14. Orn. 



Diet. Sf Supp. Rural Sports, t. p. 444. 



WEIGHT eight ounces ; length twelve inches, and to the end 

 of the toes sixteen. Bill two inches and three quarters, black, pale 

 beneath half way from the base ; top of the head brown, mottled 

 with rufous; down the middle a clay-coloured line; the sides of the 

 head pale clay-colour, speckled with brown ; through the eye, from 

 the bill, a dark brown streak, and a paler one curving round the 



* Generally appears in Pennsylvania early in the spring, when the elm and maple begin 

 to flower. — Bartram, Trav. 457. Departs south in autumn. 



