RED-BREASTED SNIPE. 
377 
Color. Adult in spring. Above, very dark-brown, becoming ashy on secondaries and upper wing coverts which arc 
edged and banded with white, with all the feathers, excepting primaries, edged and banded with chestnut-red. Itump, 
upper tail coverts, and tail, white, banded with dark-brown. Shaft of outer primary, white. Sides of head and under parts, 
chestnut-red, with line from bill to eye, spots, or short bars, on sides of neck, breast, sides, flanks, and under tail coverts, 
dark-brown. Under wing coverts and axillaries, white, banded with dark-brown. 
Adult in winter. Ashy above with the feathers darker centrally, and white beneath, streaked on the throat, breast, 
sides, and flanks with ashy. 
Young. Quite similar to the winter adult, but darker above and more ashy below. Bill and iris, brown, and feet, 
greenish, in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Quite variable in plumage, the above given stages representing the extremes, with all gradations of color between. 
In spring the body feathers only are moulted and occasionally individuals, in moulting, will not assume the red dress but 
will retain the gray throughout the summer. These may be young but it is not a constant plumage with birds of that age 
as they are usually red but paler than the adult. Viewed in the light of my past experience with these birds, which has 
been somewhat extended, as I have handled hundreds of Red-breasted Snipe from the Atlantic Coast and have seen many 
skins from the West, I cannot agree with some of our distinguished ornithologists in according specific or even varietal 
rank to long-beaked individuals, for I have frequently seen all gradations between the two extremes known as scolopaceus 
and grisnus , both in size and color. It is quite .true, that on the northern coast specimens having the extremely length¬ 
ened bill are comparatively rare, but in Florida there is as great a proportion of them as among any other waders subject 
to a like variation. Readily known by the long bill, white tail and shaft to outer quill, and other colors as described. Dis¬ 
tributed, in summer, throughout Arctic America; wintering from the Carolinas, southward. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from EasternNorth America. Length, 1150; stretch, 18-75; wing, 630; tail, 2'37; 
bill, 262; tarsus, l - 56. Longest specimen, 12-50; greatest extent of wing, 20-00; longest wing, 7'10; tail, 2 60; bill, 3 00; 
tarsus, 177. Shortest specimen, 10-50; smallest extent of wing, 17"50; shortest wing, 5'50; tail, 2'13; bill, 2 24; tarsus, 
1-35. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Eggs, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc. They are from two to four in num¬ 
ber, pyriform in shape, varying from pale greenish-brown to yellowisb-ash in color, spotted and blotched irregularly, and 
usually faintly, with light reddish-brown and umber. Dimensions from 1-lOx l - 55 to 115x1-75. 
HABITS. 
The Red-breasted Snipe make their appearance in Massachusetts in autumn, from the 
middle of August to the middle of September, varying as to the exact date, with different 
years. In habit, they sometimes resemble Wilson’s Snipe, for they will occasionally lie, 
quietly hidden, in the grass of the marshes until the sportsman approaches quite near, when 
they will suddenly rise with a loud, clear whistle and fly rapidly away. At other times, 
however, their habits approximate more nearly to those of the majority of shore birds, for 
they may be seen feeding on the borders of pools, running nimbly about, and picking up 
aquatic insects, small mollusks, etc. In the North, they are most emphatically a bird of 
the marshes, but in the South, I found them on the beaches in company with other wading 
birds. 
Red-breasted Snipe are very abundant in the latter named section, being common from 
the Carolinas to Key West, but I found them rather more numerous on the sandy borders 
of Salt Lake in the interior of Florida, than elsewhere at this season, but in spring, they 
congregated in flocks of thousands on Indian River. This was early in May and the birds 
were passing from the gray winter dress to Ihe brighter spring plumage, and then as soon as 
their feathers were grown, which was accomplished in a very short time, they departed 
for the North. These Snipe arrive in Massachusetts in spring, early in June, remain but 
a day or two, then make their way to their northern breeding grounds. 
48 
