SNIPE. 
97 
These birds abound in the meadows and low grounds 
along our large rivers, particularly those that border 
the Schuylkill and Delaware, from the 10th of March 
to the middle of April, and sometimes later, and are 
eagerly sought after by many of our gunners. The 
nature of the grounds, however, which these birds 
frequent, the coldness of the season, and peculiar 
shyness and agility of the game, render this amusement 
attractive only to the most dexterous, active, and eager 
of our sportsmen. 
The snipe is eleven inches long, and seventeen inches 
in extent ; the bill is more than two inches and a half 
long', fluted lengthwise, of a brown colour, and black 
towards the tip, where it is very smooth wdiile the bird 
is alive, but, soon after it is killed, becomes dimpled, 
like the end of a thimble ; crown, black, divided by an 
irregular line of pale brown ; another broader one of 
the same tint passes over each eye ; from the bill to the 
eye, there is a narrow dusky line ; neck and upper part 
of the breast, pale brown, variegated with touches of 
white and dusky ; chin, pale ; back and scapulars, deep 
velvety black, the latter elegantly marbled with waving 
lines of ferruginous, and broadly edged exteriorly with 
white ; wings, plain dusky, all the feathers, as w^ell as 
those of the coverts, tipt with white ; shoulder of the 
wing, deep dusky brown, exterior quill, edged with 
white ; tail-coverts, long, reaching within three quarters 
of an inch of the tip, and of a pale rust colour, spotted 
with black ; tail, rounded, deep black, ending in a bar 
of bright ferruginous, crossed with a narrow waving 
line of black, and tipt wdth whitish ; belly, pure white ; 
sides, barred with dusky ,* legs and feet, a very pale 
ashy green ; sometimes the whole thighs and sides of 
the vent are barred with dusky and white. 
The female differs in being more obscure in her 
colours ; the white on the back being less pure, and the 
black not so deep. 
VOL. in 
G 
4 
