MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS.
Red-breasted or Brown Snipe.
Scolopeue grisea
— Payh
Totanus novebrn
Macrorhamphui
time
v4u. Lina. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 658 (1788).
- Gmel. ibid., tom. i. p. 658.
Iw. Orn. Suec., tom. ii. p. 106.
Sab. in Frankl. Journ. App., p. 687.
, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indig. Mamm. and Bir
eillot, Nonv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. iii. p. 3
i Brit. Mof
aec Lathar
M r. H a bt in o has favoured me with the following communication respecting the Red-breasted o r Brown
Snipe :— “ At least fifteen instances have been recorded o f the occurrence of this bird in Great Britain (for
particulars see my * Handbook o f British Birds,’ p. 144). O f these, ten specimens were killed in autumn,
wh>:« scarcely any trace could be seen o f the beautiful rufous colouring which marks the breedingplamage.”
Some of these occurrences are indicated by Mr. Harting in the following o rd er:—One,
Devonshire, 1801, Mont.-Orn. Die t.; one, Devonshire, Moore, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, p. 3 2 0 ; one,
near Carlisle, 25th Sept. 1 8 3 5 ; one, Yarmouth, autumn, 1836, Stevenson’s ‘ Birds o f Norfolk,’ vol. ii.
p. 3 4 8 ; one, Yarmouth, Oct. 1841, in the collection of Mr. J , H. Gurney; one, Hornsey, Norfolk, Oct. 9th,
1845 ; one, Point o f Ayr, Isle o f Man, 1847, Zoologist, 1856, p. 5 2 5 1 ; one, on the Thames near Battersea,
Harting, ‘ Birds o f Middlesex,’ in the collection of F. Bond, E s q .; one, Scilly, Oct. 1857, Rodd, Zoologist,
1 857; one, Kingsbridge, Devon, 1857; one, sands near Banff, Sept. 1 858; one, on the Brent, Middlesex,
collection; one, Dumbarnie Links, Sept. 1867, Gray’s ‘ Birds o f Western
the Clyde, R. Gray, Ibis, 1870, p. 292. Thus it will be seen that individuals
have been seen and shot in various parts o f our islands from the days of
. j m d doubtless, m time rolls on, similar visits will be repeated. Still all such
Oct. 1862, in Mr. Harting’s
Scotland,’ p. 3 1 4 ; and one on
atMMwimaifc fee regarded as* mere casual visitor* which have probably been blown out o f their course
during their autumal migrations in their native country, America.
From the commencement o f the present work it has been a question with me how far we are justified in
calling such American wanderers British B ird s; and I should not have included them had I not been aware
that I should be censured for not doing so by many o f my subscribers, who consider that any of those that
have appeared in such popular works as those o f Selby, Yarrell, &e. should have a place in the present
publication; and it is a deference to their opinion which must plead my excuse for figuring many birds from
foreign countries which have merely paid solitary visits to our shores.
Perhaps in the whole range o f ornithology there is not a more singular form than the present bird.
Structurally it is closely allied to the true Snipes, while in its colouring and in the seasonal changes of
plum,
habits
taken fa m transatlai
First, feewnever, fel
the whole mf North
the opposite season i
who states in his notes that he
wader frequenting the
feeding in the open, where ; M
those o f the Common Snipe, ft
rusticola, seem to represent tw
intermediate place.”
“ This bird,” says Wilson, “ has a com«*«
form, size, and colour, but likewise liv
however, greatly from the Common Swan?
as far as I have myself observed, may be -id
The Red-breasted Snipe arrives on the ■
inland; early in May it proceeds to the nc
of August, During its stay here it flies
whistle, making many evolutions over tin
o which it is subject it is as nearly related to the Sandpiper. As might naturally be expected, its
•my are intermediate, resembling those of both groups, as the following notes, principally
uthors who have the bird constantly before them, will show,
speak of the range o f this species. The Red-breasted Snipe may be said to inhabit
rica, summering and breeding as far as the Arctic circle, and returning south at
was, Mexico, and even to the Pacific coasts o f Guatemala, as shown by Mr. Salvin,
»# fee saw specimens in that country in 1863 (vide Ibis, 18 6 5 ):—?“ Another common
M&attks was the Brown Snipe, Macrorhamphus griseus. I used always to see it
e was no cover whatever, its habits strongly contrasting in this, respect with
s closely allied. This bird and the European Woodcock, Scolopax
as regards choice of feeding-ground, the true Snipes occupying an
derabie resemblance to the Common Snipe, not only in its general
**• m 'A t tw o f its flesh, which is in high estimation. I t differs,
*in its manners and in many other peculiarities, a few o f which,
sea-cnant of New Jersey early in A p ril; is seldom o r never seen
ortfe breed, and returns by the latter p art of July or beginning
s in flocks, sometimes very high, and has then a loud an d shrill
dividing, and reuniting. They sometimes
T