SNIPE 



19 



the air in gloomy weather as the Snipe of Europe; the same bleat* 

 ing note and occasional rapid descent; spring from the marshes 

 with the like feeble squeak; and in every respect resemble the com* 

 mon Snipe of Britain, except in being about an inch less ; and in 

 having sixteen feathers in the tail instead of fourteen, the number 

 said by Bewick to be in that of Europe. From these circumstances 

 we must either conclude this to be a different species, or partially 

 changed by difference of climate; the former appears to me the 

 most probable opinion of the two. 



These birds abound in the meadows and low grounds along 

 our large rivers, particularly those that border the Schuylkill and 

 Delaware, from the tenth of March to the middle of April, and 

 sometimes later, and are eagerly sought after by many of our gun- 

 ners. The nature of the grounds, however, which these birds fre- 

 quent, the coldness of the season, and peculiar shyness and agility 

 of the game, render this amusement attractive only to the most 

 dexterous, active and eager of our sportsmen. 



The Snipe is eleven inches long, and seventeen inches in ex- 

 tent; the bill is more than two inches and a half long, fluted length- 

 ways, of a brown color, and black towards the tip, where it is very 

 smooth while the bird is alive, but soon after it is killed becomes 

 dimpled like the end of a thimble; crown black, divided by an 

 irregular line of pale brown; another broader one of the same tint 

 passes over each eye; from the bill to the eye there is a narrow 

 dusky line; neck and upper part of the breast pale brown, varie- 

 gated with touches of white and dusky; chin pale; back and scapu- 

 lars deep velvetty black, the latter elegantly marbled with waving 

 lines of ferruginous, and broadly edged exteriorly with white ; wings 

 plain dusky, all the feathers as well as those of the coverts tipt with 

 white ; shoulder of the wing deep dusky bro wn, exterior quill edged 

 with white ; tail coverts long, reaching within three quarters of an 

 inch of the tip, and of a pale rust color spotted with black; tail 

 rounded, deep black, endmg in a bar of bright ferruginous crossed 



