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MACRORHAMPHUS GRISEUS.
Red-breasted or Brown Snipe.

Scolopax grisea, Gmel. edit. Linn, Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 658 (1788).
noveboracensis, Gmel. ibid., tom. i. p- 658.

——— Paykullii, Nilss. Orn. Suec., tom. ii. p. 106.

Totanus noveboracensis, Sab. in Frankl. Journ. App., p. 687.

Macrorhamphus griseus, Leach, Syst. Cat. of Indic.

Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 31 (1816
Scolopax lewcophea, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. N OL

at., tom. iil. p. 358 (nec Latham),

 

 

 

 

Mr. Hartine has favoured me with the following communication respecting the Red-breasted or Brown

Snipe :— At least fifteen instances have been recorded of the occurrence of this bird in Great Britain (for
particulars see my ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ p. 144). Of these, ten specimens were killed in autumn,
when scarcely any trace could be seen of the beautiful rufous colouring which marks the breeding-
plumage.” Some of these occurrences are indicated by Mr. Harting in the following order :—One,
Devonshire, 1801, Mont. Orn. Dict. ; one, Devonshire, Moore, Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, p. 320; one,
near Carlisle, 25th Sept. 1835; one, Yarmouth, autumn, 1836, Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk,’ vol. ii.
p- 348; one, Yarmouth, Oct. 1841, in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney; one, Hornsey, Norfolk, Oct. 9th,
1845; one, Point of Ayr, Isle of Man, 1847, Zoologist, 1856, p- 5251; one, on the Thames near Battersea,
Harting, ‘ Birds of Middlesex,’ in the collection of F. Bond, Esq. ; one, Scilly, Oct. 1857, Rodd, Zoologist,
1857 ; one, Kingsbridge, Devon, 1857; one, sands near Banff, Sept. 1858; one, on the Brent, Middlesex,
Oct. 1862, in Mr. Harting’s collection; one, Dumbarnie Links, Sept. 1867, Gray’s ‘Birds of Western
Scotland,’ p. 314; and one on the Clyde, R. Gray, Ibis, 1870, p- 292. Thus it will be seen that individuals
of the Macrorhamphus griseus have been seen and shot in various parts of our islands from the days of
Montagu to the present period; and doubtless, as time rolls on, similar visits will be repeated. Still all such
individuals must be regarded as mere casual visitors which have probably been blown out of their course
during their autumnal migrations in their native country, America.

From the commencement of the present work it has been a question with me how far we are justified in
calling such American wanderers British Birds ; and I should not have included them had I not been aware
that I should be censured for not doing so by many of my subscribers, who consider that any of those that
have appeared in such popular works as those of Selby, Yarrell, &c. 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 of 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 Cs
plumage to which it is subject it is as nearly related to the Sandpiper. As might naturally be expected, its
habits and economy are intermediate, resembling those of both groups, as the following notes, principally
taken from transatlantic authors who have the bird constantly before them, will show.

First, however, let me speak of the range of this species. The Red-breasted Snipe may be said to inhabit
the whole of North America, summering and breeding as far as the Arctic circle, and returning south et
the opposite season to Texas, Mexico, and even to the Pacific coasts of Guava shown by Mr. Salvin,
who states in his notes that he saw specimens in that country in 1863 (wde lots, 1865) :—‘ Another common
wader frequenting the sandbanks was the Brown Snipe, Macnorianelas griseus. Pused alvays to see :
feeding in the open, where there was no cover whatever, its habits strongly comeaere in this Se
those of the Common Snipe, to which it is closely allied. This bird and the European Doe Kk, Seo nee
rusticola, seem to represent two extremes as regards choice of feeding-ground, the true Snipes occupying an
intermediate place.” Sni eae an

«This bird,” says Wilson, “ has a considerable resemblance to the Common Snipe, not only 1n 1

form, size, and colour, but likewise in the excellence of its flesh, which is in high estimation It di ers,
: ° . ne . x E
. its manners and in many other peculiarities, a few of which,

ts general

however, greatly from the Common Snipe in
as far as I have myself observed, may be sketched as follows :— ee

“¢ The Red-breasted Snipe arrives on the sea-coast of New Jersey early in ; pri i8 ea
inland ; early in May it proceeds to the north to breed, aoe returns ee ae ee : ie ae ne
of August. During its stay here it flies in flocks, sometimes oD) hig : a a F i
whistle, making many evolutions over the marshes—forming, dividing, and reuniting.

; is seldom or never seen