46 



RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 



and doubling along the surface of the marshes; then shooting high 

 in air, there separating and forming in various bodies, uttering a 

 kind of quivering whistle. Among many which I opened in May, 

 were several females, that had very little rufous below, and the 

 backs were also much lighter and less marbled with ferruginous. 

 The eggs contained in their ovaries were some of them as large 

 as garden peas. Their 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 quar- 

 ter in length, straight, grooved, black towards the point, and of a 

 dirty eelskin color 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 color; 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 tha same manner as the common Snipe; 

 wings plain olive, the secondaries centered 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 ova- 



* See his Brown Snipe, Arct. Zool. No. 369. 



