. The American sportsman : containing hints to sportsmen, notes on shooting, and the habits of game birds and wild fowl of America . l rounded, twelve feathers paleolive, waved with bars of black; tail-coverts white, barred witholive; bill pale lead-color, becoming black towards the tip; eyevery black ; chin white ; breast beautifully mottled with transversespots of olive on a cream ground; belly and vent white, the lastbarred with olive; legs and feet pale lead-color ; toes half-webbed. Towards the fall, when these birds associate in large flocks,they become of a pale dun color above, the plu
. The American sportsman : containing hints to sportsmen, notes on shooting, and the habits of game birds and wild fowl of America . l rounded, twelve feathers paleolive, waved with bars of black; tail-coverts white, barred witholive; bill pale lead-color, becoming black towards the tip; eyevery black ; chin white ; breast beautifully mottled with transversespots of olive on a cream ground; belly and vent white, the lastbarred with olive; legs and feet pale lead-color ; toes half-webbed. Towards the fall, when these birds associate in large flocks,they become of a pale dun color above, the plumage being shaftedwith dark brown, and the tail white, or nearly so. i^t this seasonthey are extremely fat, and esteemed excellent eating. Ex-perienced gunners always select the lightest-colored ones from aflock, as being uniformly the fattest. The female of this species isgenerally larger than the male. Willets, as other shore-birds, have a strong afiection for theiryoung, or for a companion in distress, and are ever ready to turnfrom their course to ofier assistance at the first call for aid, regard-less of all 302 lewiss AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. ^ I RED-BREASTED SNIPE. SCOLOPAX , NOMENCLATURE, ETC. This snipe resembles very mucli in size and plumage the com-mon snipe, more particularly when in its winter plumage; it is,however, altogether different in its habits, as well as in the flavorof its flesh. The English or Wilson snipe frequents fresh-watermarshes only, while the present species confines itself almostexclusively to the salt marshes of our Atlantic States. The Eng-lish snipe is mostly a solitary bird, while the red-breasted snipescongregate in immense flocks upon the mud-flats and snipe, we believe, is known to our coast-shooters as the brownback, or dowitcher, and we have at times found it more palatablethan any other kinds of sea-bird, although considerably smallerthan the curlew, willet, or plover. Being so much smalle
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1885
