286 RED- BREASTED SNIPE.
in Louisiana. While watching their manner of walking and wading
along sand-bars and muddy flats, I saw that as long as the water was
not deeper than the length of their tìkey probed the ground beneath
them precisely in the manner of the American Snipe, Scolòpax
Wilsoni | but when the water reached their bodies, they immersed the
head and a portion of the neck,, and, remained- thus sufficiently long to
satisfy me that, while in this position, they probed several spots before
raising their head to breathe. On such grounds as-are yet' soft, although
not covered-with water, they bore holfes as deep as the- soil will admit,
and this with surprising* rapidity, ©ccupyiftg'but a- few moments in one
spot, and probing- as they advance; I have watched1 some - dozens at
this, work for half an . hour at a- time, when I was ; completely concealed
from their view. Godwits, which are ateo borers* probe the mud or moist
earth often in an oblique direction, whilst the Woodcock, the-Common
Snipe, and1 the present species, thrust in their bills perpendicularly.
The latter bird; also- Seizes many sorts of insects, and at times small
fry,, as ¡well as; the seeds ¡of plants that have« dropped into the water.
Dr Richardson* informs us- that " individuals killed on the Saskatchewan
plains had the crops filled with leeches and fragments of1 coleopter&
i".
The flight1 of;' this bird- is rapid', strong, and remarkably well-sustained.
When rising ih, large numbers, which they- Usually do simultaneously,
they crowds together, are apt to launch- upwards in the air
for a while, and after performing several evolutions in contrary directions,
glide towards the ground', and wend1 their way close to it, until
finding a suitable place-, they alight in a very compact body, and stand
for a momenti SometakneSj as if alarmed, they recommence their
meandering1 flight, and* after a while return to the same- spot, alighting
in the same manner. Then is the time when the gunner may carry
havoW amongst them ; but in two or three minutes they separate and
search for food, when you must either put them up to-have a good shot,
or wait' the arrival1 of another flock at the same place; which often happens
j for these- birds seldom suffer any of their species to pass without
sending them ajnote-of invitation. It is not at all uncommon to shoot
twenty or thirty of them at once. I have been present when 127
were killed by discharging three barrels, and have heard of many
dozens having beeii> procured at a shot. When wounded and brought
to the water, they try in vain to dive, and1 on reaching the nearest
RED-BREASTED' SNIPE.
pa^of the* shore, they usually run a few steps and squat among, the
¡ 1 1 When it becomes, difficult to find them, « if^ p
escaped unhurt often remain looking upon their dead companysometimes
waiting until shot at a second- time; When they are fat, they
¡¡¡§good eating, but their flesh is at no -time so savomry as that of the
GOiMW'AteW«»'^^^ " : ' 1L
B W H H j ^ ^ H m B U H | U | a u i 1 Rrth,!r ¡ ¡ ¡ a
M • • i • • • H
• H ruling sound. M fflffl K B B B g t h e
species last • • Their eal fcnote.HB1 t ^ sof t and pleas-
H W 8 M # a • • »«• i H ^ H • mm
W Nothing is knovnrrespei-tmg tMr t i d i n g , B H H |
c (m Be- little dbubk tot many of them must rear young wrthm the
limits ofttM'tttoni u i I . 1 ,
By tte eieo&s' of'Louisiana the B eM^ e d - SWpe,® named
R
,— B — MH^^m m mm • •
more abundant in the autumnal • U W ¡ B H s W f l
M M M M M pl° r i a s s teward Ga?e H H i
as m , friend Dr Bao««.« iufi>rn me-that he never saw on<v of them
in spring in the vicinity >0$ Charleston.
ScOI.»rAS . SOVBHOHACRNalSR,. QMw AM, %Rs k^M », S,-voii, ,i,,p- tt Ini. Qraitb.
' ¡¡. I HH H H H • ,„,
bcmovAX aaisiA, Sni MIfc Sfcyjs t.• J Natjv nT-i fIt'- 658.—hath. H I Ormtli. vol. 11. p. JM.
Il-.mprrte, BvnopsU of Birds M S B Stai,«, V- g g
>• . H.vji-r., HliKfi, ./Vuiir. i l i i i t t B H |
aooJ,„.« « » A « , * ^ (¡o„w,t, ami Baffla
%wk or Jiti. Breasted Ssn-»:,.^«!^, Manual, vol. ii. 181.
Adult Mafe, in summer. Plate CCCXXXV. Fig. 1. ,
Bill twice KB long as the head. f W a t e , straight, compressed' for
inore than half'its lettgttv depressed toward* the end. Upper Mandible
wi ,h the dorsal line decimate at the base, then straight, at the
end' sfigKfflj 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
narrowetfbut blunt. Nostrils W , linear, very smalt: tower mandible
with the angle extremely long and narrow, the sides nearly erect,