BAY SNIPE. 
9 
a regular ornithology, rather than a guide and companion of the 
sportsman. 
Of the Rallidae, or Rail family, there are nine varieties; of 
the Charadriadae, or Plover family, there are also nine ; of the 
Scolopacidae, or Snipe family, including Sandpipers, Tatlers, 
Godwits, Snipe, Avoset, Stilt, and Curlew, there are no less 
than twenty-eight; and of the family of Pinnatipedes, or Lobe¬ 
footed Swimming Birds, there are three varieties; besides six 
Geese, two Swans, sixteen Sea-ducks, and four Divers, all of 
which come, to a certain degree, within the definition of game, 
as being objects of pursuit to the sportsman, both for the plea¬ 
sure of the chase, and for the purposes of the table; and in ad¬ 
dition to these, there are seventeen members of the family of 
Gruidae, including Cranes, Herons, Bitterns, and Ibises, which 
are generally shot by the sportsman, when he finds an opportu¬ 
nity, although they cannot be in any sort regarded as game, and 
are not, in general, suitable for food, their flesh being, for the 
most part, coarse, dark, and fishy. A certain number of these 
birds, however, must be dealt with and regarded as game; I be¬ 
gin, therefore, this department of my work, with what are com¬ 
monly called, although only one of them correctly, 
BAY SNIPE. 
No. 1. Red-breasted Sandpiper —Tringa Islandica; Linn .— 
Vulgo, the Robin Snipe. 
Ash-colored Sandpiper, Tringa cinerea, Wils. Winter.—Red-breasted Sand¬ 
piper, Tringa rufa, Wils. Spring.—Tringa islandica, Bonap. Syn.—Tringa 
cinerea, Svv. & Rich.—Knot or Ash-colored Sandpiper, Nutt. Man.—Knot 
or Ash-colored Sandpiper, Tringa islandica, Aud. 
“ Specific Character .—Bill straight, longer than the head ; tarsi 
one inch and three-sixteenths long; rump and upper tail coverts 
white, barred with dark brown; region of the vent and the 
lower tail coverts white, with dusky markings. In spring, the 
