Plate CCLVIII. Adult, Male, and Young Female.
Bill greyish-yellow, dark brown along the ridge of the upper mandible,
and blackish toward the tips of both; feet light greyish-blue; head
and neck brownish-grey, with darker lines; a band from the bill over
the eye, and the throat, greyish-white; back deep grey, the scapulars
brownish-black, with small white markings on the edges of the
feathers; smaller wing-coverts, alula, primary quills, and their
coverts brownish-black; secondaries lighter, and with their inner webs
pale grey; tips of primary coverts and bases of quills white, as is a
broad band over the rump; tail-feathers and upper tail-coverts
brownish-black, their bases white; lower parts bright yellowish-red,
the sides mottled with dark brown; abdomen and lower tail-coverts
paler and variegated with dusky; lower wing-coverts blackish-brown,
edged with whitish. Young in winter with the lower parts pale
brownish-grey, the upper brownish-grey, the fore part of the back and
scapular brownish-black, the feathers edged with light brownish-red,
wing-coverts brownish-grey.
_Male_, 15-3/4, 28. _Female_, 16-3/4, 29.
Rather rare along the Atlantic Districts in spring and autumn. Breeds
in the barren grounds of the Arctic seas in great numbers. Migratory.
Scolopax hudsonica, Lath. Ind. Orn. v. ii. p. 720.
Limosa hudsonica, Hudsonian Godwit, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 396.
Hudsonian Godwit, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 175.
Hudsonian Godwit, Limosa hudsonica, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p.
426; v. v. p. 592.
GENUS VI. SCOLOPAX, Linn. SNIPE.
Bill twice as long as the head; subulate, straight, compressed for
half its length, depressed toward the end; upper mandible with the
dorsal line declinate at the base, then straight, at the end slightly
arched, that part being considerably enlarged, the ridge convex,
towards the end flattened, the sides with a narrow groove extending to
near the tip, the edges soft and obtuse or flattened, the tip
narrowed, but blunt; lower mandible with the angle extremely long and
narrow, the sides erect, with a longitudinal groove, the edges
flattened, and directly meeting those of the upper mandible, the
extremity enlarged, the tip contracted and rather blunt. Nostrils
basal, linear, very small. Head rather small, oblong, the forehead
elevated and rounded; neck rather short; body rather full. Legs of
moderate length, slender; tibia bare below; tarsus scutellate before
and behind; toes very slender, free, scutellate; first toe very small
and elevated, lateral toes nearly equal, the outer connected with the
third by a basal web. Claws small, slightly arched, compressed, rather
acute. Plumage very soft, rather dense. Wings long, narrow, pointed;
the first quill longest; inner secondaries much elongated. Tail
moderate, nearly even.
351. 1. Scolopax Wilsonii, Temm. Wilson's Snipe.--Common Snipe.
English Snipe.
Plate CCXLIII. Male and Female.
Tail of sixteen feathers; upper part of head with two brownish-black
longitudinal broad bands, separated by a narrower central pale brown
band; another band of the latter colour on each side over the eye,
then a loral band of dark brown; chin whitish; neck pale
reddish-brown, spotted with brownish-black; general colour of upper
parts brownish-black, variegated with pale reddish-brown, of which
latter colour are the outer edges of the scapulars and of the lateral
feathers on the anterior part of the back; wing-coverts and inner
secondaries similarly mottled, the smaller anterior coverts, primary
coverts, primary quills, and outer secondaries, deep brown, more or
less tipped with white; first quill with the outer web brownish-white,
rump barred with yellowish-grey and dusky; upper tail-coverts similar,
but the larger barred with brownish-red and black; tail-feathers
brownish-black at the base, with a broad subterminal band of
brownish-red on the outer web of the two middle, and on both webs of
the rest, excepting the outer on each side, which is barred with
brownish-black and white, the black bars five, the tips of all white;
anterior part of breast like the neck, the rest white; abdomen and
lower tail-coverts greyish-yellow, barred with brownish-black, as are
the sides; axillars white, barred with greyish-black, lower
wing-coverts similarly marked.
Male, 10-1/2, 17.
Distributed throughout the country. Breeds from Virginia northwards.
Exceedingly abundant in the Southern and Western Districts during
winter.
Scolopax Wilsonii, Bonap. Syn. p. 330.
Snipe, Scolopax Gallinago, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 18.
Scolopax Wilsonii, Wilson's Snipe, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor.
Amer. v. ii. p. 401.
Wilson's Snipe, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 185.
American Snipe, Scolopax Wilsonii, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p.
322; v. v. p. 583.