50 
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 andtertials black, 
edged, mottled and marbled with yellowish white, pale and bright 
ferruginous, much in the same manner as the common Snipe ; 
wings plain olive, the secondaries centred 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. 
