SNIPE. 199 



Keuvitt, Sparrm. Voy. cap. i. 153. 

 Rhynchaea, Tem. Man. Ed. 2d. Anal. p. civ. 

 Cape Snipe, Gen. Syn. v. 138. Id. Sup. 244. 



SIZE of our Snipe; length ten inches. Bill one inch and three 

 quarters, reddish brown ; crown of the head ash-colour, crossed 

 with streaks of black; down the middle a pale band, from the base 

 of the bill to the hindhead ; round the eyes white, ending in a streak 

 behind ; the under part bounded by a black line ; the rest of the 

 head and neck rufous; at the top of the breast a narrow band of 

 black; from this all the under parts are dusky white; the upper 

 part of the body, wings, and tail, ash-colour, transversely waved 

 with black, most regular on the coverts ; each feather of the outer 

 ones marked with four or five yellowish bars on the inner web, and 

 as many round spots of the same on the outer ; the tail feathers are 

 also marked in the same manner ; the four middle ones having the 

 bars of the yellowish colour, and the four outer on each side spots, 

 as in the quills; the inner edge of the wing, in the course of the 

 scapulars, streaked with white; legs dusky. 



Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope, and called Keuvitt, as it screams 

 out in the dusk of the evening, in a kind of disagreeable sound, 

 imitating that word.* 



FEMALE. 



Becassine de Madagascar, Buf. vii. 495. PL enl. 922. Ind. Orn. ii. 717. 10. y. 



Gen. Syn. v. p. 139. C. 

 Rynchaea orientalis, Lin. Trans, xiii. p. 193. 



Length ten inches. Bill brownish red, straight, except towards 

 the end, where it bends a trifle downwards ; round the eye white, 

 passing a little way down on the neck on each side ; above this a 

 black streak ; chin white ; the rest of the head and neck rufous ; 



* Sparm. Voy. i. 153. 



