WILSON'S SNIPE. 
339 
edges flattened, and directly meeting those of the upper mandible, the 
extremity enlarged, the tip contracted and rather blunt. Nostrils basal, 
linear, very small. Head rather small, oblong, the forehead elevated and 
rounded ; neck rather short ; body rather full. Legs of moderate length, 
slender; tibia bare below; tarsus scutellate before and behind; toes very 
slender, free, scutellate; first toe very small and elevated, lateral toes nearly 
equal, the outer connected with the third by a basal web. Claws small, 
slightly arched, compressed, rather acute. Plumage very soft, rather dense. 
Wings long, narrow, pointed: the first quill longest; inner secondaries 
much elongated. Tail moderate, nearly even. 
WILSON’S. SNIPE.— COMMON SNIPE. 
Scolopax Wilsonii, Temm. 
% 
PLATE COOL. — Male and Females. 
The summer range of the Common American Snipe extends northward to 
a considerable distance beyond the limits of the United States. During the 
breeding season it is not to be found in our Southern Districts, much less 
does it breed on the borders of the Mississippi, as has been alleged by some 
. • . ♦ 
writers. It may indeed sometimes happen that a pair is found during sum- 
mer in the mountainous districts of the Carolinas ; but occurrences of this 
kind are rare, and are probably caused by one of the birds being disabled, 
and so prevented from prosecuting its journey farther northward, although 
not incapacitated for reproduction. Some pairs are more frequently met 
with in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, either with eggs or with 
young, but the great body of this species goes farther north for the pur- 
pose of breeding. In the State of Maine, they become tolerably abundant 
at this season, and as you proceed eastward you find them more numerous. 
In Nova Scotia they are plentiful during summer, and there they breed in 
all convenient places. 
In these northern districts, the Snipe begins to lay its eggs in the early 
part of June. The swampy parts of the extensive moss-covered marshes in 
elevated situations afford it places of security and comfort, in which it is not 
