A Synopsis of the Birds of North America

by John James Audubon

Male, 10¹/₂, 17.

Distributed throughout the country. Breeds from Virginia northwards. Exceedingly abundant in the Southern and Western Districts during winter.

Scolopax Wilsonii, Bonap. Syn. p. 330.

Snipe, Scolopax Gallinago, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 18.

Scolopax Wilsonii, Wilson's Snipe, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 401.

Wilson's Snipe, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 185.

American Snipe, Scolopax Wilsonii, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 322; v. v. p. 583.

352. 2. Scolopax Drummondii, Swains. Drummond's Snipe.

Not figured.

"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 quill 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 point whitish. Rump and tail-coverts rich greenish-black, with reddish-orange or ferruginous ends, crossed by a blackish subterminal line, and tipped with white; the three exterior pairs barred externally 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 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. Length 11¹/₂, wing 5³/₈.

"Fur Countries to Lat. 55°. Rocky Mountains."

Scolopax Drummondii, Drummond's Snipe, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 400.

Drummond's Snipe, Scolopax Drummondii, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 319.

353. 3. Scolopax Noveboracensis, Gmel. Red-breasted Snipe.