MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS. 
Red-breasted or Brown Snipe. 
Scolopax grisea, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 658 (1788). 
novehoracensis, Gmel. ibid., tom. i. p. 658. 
PayhiMi, Nilss. Orn. Suec.,tom. ii. p. 106. 
Totatms novehoracensis. Sab. in Frankl. Journ. App., p. 687. 
Macrorhamphiis griseus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 31 (1816). 
Scolopax leucophaa, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. hi. p. 358 (nec Latham). 
Mr. Harting has favoured me with the following communication respecting the Red-breasted or Brown 
Snipe : — '“At least fifteen instances have been recorded of the occurrenee of this bird in Great Britain (for 
particulars see my ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ p. 144). Of these, ten specimens were killed in autumn, 
when scarcely any trace could be seen of the beautiful rufous colouring which marks the breeding- 
plumage.” Some of these occurrences are indicated by Mr. Harting in the following order: — One, 
Devonshire, 1801, Mont. Orn. Diet.; one, Devonshire, Moore, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, p. 320; one, 
near Carlisle, 25th Sept. 1835; one, Yarmouth, autumn, 1836, Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. ii. 
p. 348 ; one, Yarmouth, Oct. 1841, in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney ; one, Hornsey, Norfolk, Oct. 9th, 
1845 ; one, Point of Ayr, Isle of Man, 1847, Zoologist, 1856, p. 5251 ; one, on the Thames near Battersea, 
Harting, ‘Birds of Middlesex,’ in the collection of F. Bond, Esq. ; one, Scilly, Oct. 1857, Rodd, Zoologist, 
1857 ; one, Kingsbridge, Devon, 1857 ; one, sands near Banff, Sept. 1858; one, on the Brent, Middlesex, 
Oct. 1862, in Mr. Harting’s collection ; one, Dumbarnie Links, Sept. 1867, Gray’s ‘ Birds of Western 
Scotland,’ p. 314 ; and one on the Clyde, R. Gz-ay, Ibis, 1870, p. 292. Thus it will be seen that individuals 
of the Macrorhampims griseus have been seen and shot in various parts of our islands from the days of 
Montagu to the present period ; and doubtless, as time rolls on, similar visits will be I’epeated. Still all such 
individuals must be regarded as mere casual visitors which have probably been blown out of their coui'se 
during their autumal migrations in their native counti-y, America. 
From the commencement of the present woi'k it has been a question with me how far we az*e justified in 
calling such American wanderers British Birds ; and I should not have included them had I not been aware 
that I should be censured for not doing so by many of my subscribers, who consider that any of those that 
have appeared in such popular works as those of Selby, Yarrell, &e. should have a place in the present 
publication; and it is a deference to their opinion which must plead my excuse for figuring many bii'ds fi-om 
foreign countries which have merely paid solitary visits to our shores. 
Perhaps in the whole range of ornithology there is not a more singular form than the present bird. 
Structurally it is closely allied to the true Snipes, while in its colouring and in the seasonal changes of 
plumage to which it is subject it is as nearly related to the Sandpiper. As might naturally be expected, its 
habits and economy ai*e intermediate, resembling those of both groups, as the following notes, principally 
taken from transatlantic authors who have the bii'd constantly befoi-e them, will show. 
First, however, let me speak of the range of this species. The Red-breasted Snipe may be said to inhabit 
the whole of North America, summering and breeding as far as the Arctic circle, and retuiming south at 
the opposite season to Texas, Mexico, and even to the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, as shown by Mr. Salvin, 
who states in his notes that he saw specimens in that couiztry in 1863 (vide Ibis, 1865) : — “ Another common 
wader frequenting the sandbanks was the Brown Snipe, Macrorliamphus griseus, I used always to see it 
feeding in the open, where there was no cover whatever, its habits sti'ongly contrasting in this respect with 
those of the Common Snipe, to which it is closely allied. This bli-d and the European Woodcock, Scolopax 
rusticola, seem to represent two exti'emes as regards choice of feeding-ground, the true Snipes occupying an 
intermediate place.” 
“This bird,” says Wilson, “has a considerable resemblance to the Common Snipe, not only in its general 
form, size, and colour, but likewise in the excellence of its flesh, which is in high estimation. It differs, 
however, greatly from the Common Snipe in its manners and in many other peculiarities, a few of which, 
as far as I have myself observed, may he sketched as follows : — 
The Red-breasted Snipe arrives on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in April ; is seldom or never seen 
inland; early in May it proceeds to the north to breed, and i-eturns by the latter pai't of July or beginning 
of August. Duinng its stay here it flies in flocks, sometimes very high, and has then a loud and shrill 
whistle, making many evolutions over the mai’shes — forming, dividing, and reuniting. They sometimes 
