[166.] 2. Scolopax Drummondii. (Swains.) Drummond’s Snipe.
Genus, Scolopax, Linn.
Peethapacasew. Cr ee, I ndians.
Gh . Sp. Scolopax Drommoxjjii, reclricibm aedecim, paribus d-uobua eatcricribaspauti angustioribus nign at alio
distinctis; casterisferrugineo latS fasciatis.S - B ... . B B B p. Ch. Dr o t m i i ’s Snirii, rail of sixteen feathers ; the Wo outer pairs somewhat narrowed, varied with black
and white; the rest banded with ferruginous.
This Snipe is common in the fur-countries up to latitude 65°, and is also
found in the recesses of the Rocky Mountains. Its manners are in all respects
similar to those of the European Snipes. It is intermediate in size between
the Sc. major and gallinago ; it has a much longer bill than the latter, and
two more tail feathers. Its head is divided by a pale central stripe, as in
Sc. gallinula and major : its dorsal plumage more distinctly striped than that
of the latter; and-the outer tail feather is a quarter of an inch shorter than that
of S. Douglasii.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen, killed on the Rocky Mountains.
C olour.—Dorsal-plumage and wings mostly brownish-black; the top of the head, scapulars,
interscapulars, intermediate coverts, posterior greater ones, and tertiaries, reflecting
green and mottled, or barred with yellowish-brown ; this colour also forming stripes from the
forehead to the nape, over the eyes to the sides of the neck, and more broadly on the exterior
edges of the scapulars and interscapulars. Middle dorsal plumage and first qujlk fringed
with white, and most of the wing coverts and lesser quills tipped with the same. Shafts of
the primaries deep brown ; an inch of the first, near its poirit, whitish. Rump and tail.coverts
yellowish-brown, barred with clove-brown. Toil, of sixteen feathers; the three.central pairs
rich greenish-black, with reddish-orange or ferruginous ends, crossed by a blackish subterminal
line, and tipped with white; the three exterior pairs barred alternately with clove-
brown and brownish-white,—the white tips broader; the two intermediate pairs coloured
nearly like the middle ones, but partly barred and tipped with white. Under plumage:—A
Note:—A specimen of a Snipe, killed by Mr. Douglas on tie banks of the Columbia, sold by the Horticultural
Society, and now in Mr. Swainson’s museum, is, probably, a distinct species, though at present the following specific
characters rest upon the authority of only a single specimen.. Its characters are, . . .
Scolopax Douolasii (Swains.), rcctncibus seieeim laliluiine aqualihis omnibus ferrugineo late fasciatis prater
Douglase’xsl iSmnoisp qeu ;i atalbiel socfe nsitx. teen feathers, not narrowed, all banded with ferruginous, except the outer pa.i r, w,h i. c,h
Total length, H i inch.; of wing, 5 inch.; of tarsus, 1 inch 3J lines; middle toe, 1 inch 2 lines; its nail, 31 lines.
The following, killed in Equinoctial Brazil by Mr. Swainson, is unquestionably distinct. It is the only Snipe
hSitherto found in South America, where it is very common. . . . . . . . . ... .. . colopax Braziliersis (Swains.), reclricilus aedecim; mediis ferrugineo loti fasciatis ; tn lm cxtenonbus greed-
limis albis quinquies ni'gro interrupts fasciatis. Brazilian Snipe ; tail of sixteen feathers; the middle ones banded with ferruginous; the three outer ones very nar-
row, white, with five interrupted black bands.
dark brown stripe on the lores, another under the ear. Sides of the head, front of the neck,
and breast, pale wood-brown, with central spots of dark umber; the flanks, insides of the
wings, and under tail coverts, barred with black and white, which on the latter is tinged with
brown. Belly white. Bill blackish towards its tip, dark wood-brown at the base.
Form typical. One small fold of the epidermis at the upper base of the bill. Tail rather
long, graduated, the feathers decreasing a little in breadth as they are more exterior.
Length, total
„ of tail
of wing
% „ of bill above
Dimensions.
Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin
11 6 Length of bill td rictus ... 2 6* Length of middle nail a 0 3
2 10 „ of naked thigh . 0 5 of inner toe . . 0 11
. 5 3 . ,, of tarsus . . 1 3 of hind toe . 0 4
2 7 . „ of middle toe . 1 3J ,, of hind nail . 0 1 —R.
[167.] 3. Scolopax Wilsonii. (Temm.) Wilson’s Snipe.
Genus, Scolopax, Linn.
Snipe (Scolopax gallinago). Wils., vi., pi 18, pi. 47, f* 2.
Scolopax Wilsonii. Bonap. Sgn., No. 268; aud p. 445. No. 306, i. Br it . Mus.
A specimen of a Snipe from Hudson’s Bay, in the British Museum, possesses
all the distinctive characters ascribed by the Prince of Musignano to his Sc.
Wilsonii, of which we have seen no authenticated examples. It differs from
S. Drummondii in its shorter tail, the outer feathers of which are more attenuated.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen, in the British Museum, from Hudson’s Bay.
Colour.—Plumage of Sc. Drummondii. Tail, of sixteen feathers; six middle pairs
reddish-black at the bases, brownish-orange* on their distal halves, slightly tipped with white,
and crossed by a narrow subterminal pitch-black bar; two outer pairs brownish-white, with
three narrow, equidistant, blackish bars.—In f o r m the tail is rounded laterally; the middle
pair of feathers rather narrower and shorter than the three succeeding pairs, which are equal
in length, add about four lines and a half wide; the four exterior pairs become shorter and
narrower in succession, the outer pair being only two lines wide, or not quite half the breadth
of the middle ones.
Dimensions.
Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. f l H H Infh‘ Li,n,' Length, total . . 1 0 6 Length of bill . . 2 6 Length of middle toe . 1 1*
of tail . . 2 3 „ ofnaked thigh . 0 5 „ of middle nail. „ ■ 0 2i
” of wing . . 5 4 oftarsua . . . I 2 „ of hind toe and nail 0 5
—R.
* The orange la much deeper on the four central pairs of feathers than on the two adjoining pairs. R. 3 F