TELL-TALE GODWIT, OR SNIPE. 
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lowering the head, and, on the least appearance of danger, 
utters its shrill whistle, and mounts on wing, generally accom- 
panied by all the feathered tribes that are near. It occasionally 
penetrates inland along the muddy shores of our large rivers, 
seldom higher than tide water, and then singly and solitary. 
They sometimes rise to a great height in the air, and can be 
distinctly heard when t>eyond the reach of the eye. In the 
fall, when they are fat, their flesh is highly esteemed, and 
many of them are brought to our markets. The colours and 
markings of this bird are so like those of the preceding, that, 
unless in point of size, and the particular curvature of the bill, 
the description of one might serve for both. 
The Tell-tale is fourteen inches and a half long, and twenty- 
five inches in extent ; the bill is two inches and a quarter long, 
of a dark horn colour, and slightly bent upwards ; the space 
round the eye, chin, and throat, pure white ; lower part of the 
neck, pale ashy white, speckled with black ; general colour 
of the upper parts, an ashy brown, thickly spotted with black 
and dull white, each feather being bordered and spotted on 
the edge with black ; wing-quills, black ; some of the primaries, 
and all of the secondaries, with their coverts, spotted round 
the margins with black and white ; head and neck above, 
streaked with black and white ; belly and vent, pure white ; 
rump, white, dotted with black ; tail, also white, barred with 
brown ; the wings, when closed, reach beyond the tail ; thighs, 
naked nearly two inches above the knees ; legs, two inches 
and three quarters long ; feet, four-toed, the outer joined by 
a membrane to the middle, the whole of a rich orange yellow. 
The female differs little in plumage from the male ; sometimes 
the vent is slightly dotted with black, and the upper parts 
more brown. 
Nature seems to have intended this bird as a kind of spy, 
or sentinel, for the safety of the rest ; and so well acquainted 
are they with the watchful vigilance of this species, that, while 
it continues silent among them, the Ducks feed in the bogs 
and marshes without the least suspicion. The great object 
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