OF BIRDS* 
24 7 
which her body is covered almost all over, is more in- 
dining to a red. 
Snipe. (Scolopax. PI. 42.) This bird measures from 
the point of the bill to the end of the tail, about twelve 
inches, and from the point of each wing, when extended, 
about fifteen or sixteen; the head is divided by a pale and 
red line, which runs longways, parallel to which on each 
side is a black line, and over the eyes there runs another 
line pretty much of the same colour as that on the mid- 
dle of the head; it has a white place under the bill. The 
feathers that spring from the shoulders are so long that 
they reach almost as far as the end of the tail, the out- 
ward half from the shaft being of a pale red. The co- 
lours thus succeeding each other, make two lines down 
the back, the covert feathers of which are dusky with 
white transverse lines, and white tips on some of the 
large wing feathers, the lesser feathers being of a mixed 
colour of red, black, and gray, beautifully variegated 
with white and brown lines running across them. The 
bill is black at the tip, and near three inches long, the 
tongue is sharp, the eyes of a hazel colour. The legs 
are of a pale greenish colour, the toes pretty long, and 
the talons black. 
There are two sorts, but they frequent the same 
places, subsist on the same food, and are frequently found 
near to each other. The larger is called tfee whole snipe, 
and the smaller the jack. 
The flesh is exceedingly good, sweet, and tender; it 
feeds in drains of water springs, and other fenny places, 
on worms and other insects, and upon the fat unctious 
humour that it sucks out of the earth. 
Snipes are birds of passage, supposed to breed prin- 
cipally in the lower lands of Switzerland and Germany; 
though some (particularly the jacks) remain and breed 
in the fens, and marshy swamps of England, where 
their nests and eggs are frequently found. They lay 
four or five eggs. They arrive there sooner or later in 
the autumn, regulated in respect to time, by the wind 
and weather; but never appear till after the first rains, 
and leave that country in the spring, as soon as. the 
