Printed on the plate
“Red-breasted or Brown Snipe”
Macrorhamphus griseus
Engraved caption: MACRORAMPHUS GRISEUS.
Modern identification
Limnodromus scolopaceus
- Judged
- Checked against the engraved caption
- Sandpipers and Allies · Scolopacidae
Why
Gould's Macrorhamphus griseus covers both dowitchers (his text quotes Say's Limosa scolopacea, the Long-billed's name, as the same bird). The plate's summer bird is rufous to the vent and barred with white-fringed crescents across breast, belly and flanks, the Long-billed's breeding dress rather than the Short-billed's spotted breast, and Long-billed is the dowitcher of Britain's old records: the BOU struck Short-billed off the British list in 1992. Judged against the name (Gmelin's griseus is the Short-billed) and Birds of Europe plate 323, a different drawing kept as Short-billed.
Sources
engraved caption; Gould's text; the plate; BOURC's 1992 review of British dowitcher records; Birds of Europe plate 323
Who made the plate
J. Gould & W. Hart, del et lith.Walter, Imp.
- John Gould drew and lithographed
- William Matthew Hart drew and lithographed
- Walter printed
As the credit line gives it. More on who made these plates.