RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 343 



stomachs contained masses of those small snail-shells that lie 

 in millions on the salt marshes ; the wrinkles at the base of 

 the bill, and the red breast, are strong characters of this 

 species, as also the membrane which unites the outer and 

 middle toes together. 



The red-breasted snipe is ten inches and a half long, and 

 eighteen inches in extent ; the bill is about two inches and a 

 quarter in length, straight, grooved, black towards the point, 

 and of a dirty eel-skin colour at the base, where it is tumid 

 and wrinkled ; lores, dusky ; cheeks and eyebrows, pale 

 yellowish white, mottled with specks of black ; throat and 

 breast, a reddish buff colour ; sides, white, barred with black ; 

 belly and vent, white, the latter barred with dusky ; crown, 

 neck above, back, scapulars, and tertials, black, edged, mottled, 

 and marbled with yellowish white, pale and bright ferruginous, 

 much in the same manner as the common snipe ; wings, plain 

 olive, the secondaries, centred and bordered with white ; shaft, 

 of the first quill, very white ; rump, tail-coverts, and tail 

 (which consists of twelve feathers), white, thickly spotted with 

 black ; legs and feet, dull yellowish green ; outer toe united 

 to the middle one by a small membrane; eye, very dark. 

 The female, which is paler on the back, and less ruddy on 

 the breast, has been described by Mr Pennant as a separate 

 species.* 



, These birds, doubtless, breed not far to the northward of 

 the United States, if we may judge from the lateness of the 

 season when they leave us in spring, the largeness of the eggs 

 in the ovaries of the females before they depart, and the short 

 period of time they are absent. Of all our seaside snipes, it 

 is the most numerous, and the most delicious for the. table. 

 From these circumstances, and the crowded manner in which 

 it flies and settles, it is the most eagerly sought after by our 

 gunners, who send them to market in great numbers. 



* See his brown snipe, Arct. Zool., No. 369. 



