Family SCOLOPACIDAE, Snipes and Sandpipers (continued 2)

A Colorado nest is thus described by Robert B. Rockwell (1912):

This nest was located on (and above) the surface of slightly damp ground at the edge of a good-sized area of very soft, boggy land formed by the seepage under the dyke of the Big Barr Lake. It was built in the center of a tussock of grass about 8 inches in length and was a very neat, well-shaped, and cupped nest composed entirely of fine dry grass. In construction it was far superior to any shore bird's nest I have ever seen, being so compactly and strongly put together that it was possible to remove it from the nesting site without injury. In general appearance the nest itself is not unlike certain sparrows' nests.

A nest photographed for me by F. Seymour Hersey, near the mouth of the Yukon River, Alaska, was in a very wet spot on the border of a marsh; it was a deep hollow prettily arched over with dry grasses at the base of a small willow bush.

The Wilson snipe is often a close sitter and sometimes will not leave the nest until nearly trodden upon. W. J. Brown (1912) tells of a case where he stroked the bird on the back and had to lift her off the nest to photograph the eggs.

Mr. Sutton (1923) has published a full and very interesting account of the breeding habits of the Wilson snipe in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he found several nests in a large, wet swamp among cattails and grasses; of the first nest he says:

The nest was beautifully situated in the center of a clump of dried fern stalks—a clump similar to hundreds of just such little islands near at hand but certainly admirably suited to such a nesting site, for the eggs were almost completely surrounded at the short distance of 4 inches by a paling of dead fern stalks. The eggs were about 9 inches above water at this time, although the water's depth changed constantly with every rainfall, and five days later the outer rim of the nest was only 2 inches above water level. Another was built upon a bit of decayed, sunken log and was composed entirely of grass stems rather carefully laid together. The eggs were but a few inches above the surface of the water, and although grass stems connected the nesting site with other vegetation the nest was virtually on an island surrounded by water 18 inches deep.

And of still another he says:

This nest was the only snipe nest I have seen which had any real protection from above. The nest was so placed under a dead willow branch and some leaning cat-tail stalks that it was really difficult to see it. The grasses composing the nest had been placed with care and were somewhat woven about the cat-tail stalks and other grasses standing near.

Eggs.—Four eggs is the normal number laid by the snipe; rarely five eggs are laid. They are about ovate pyriform in shape and slightly glossy. The ground colors vary from "buckthorn brown" or "Isabella color" in the darkest types to "deep olive buff" or "dark olive buff" in the lighter types, which are much commoner. As a rule the eggs are boldly spotted and blotched, chiefly about the larger end; but often they are spotted more or less evenly over the entire surface. The markings are in dark shades of brown, "burnt umber," "bister," or "bone brown." Often there are splashes or scrawls of brownish black, or black, at the larger end. "Snuff brown," "vinaceous drab," or "brownish drab" under spots or blotches often occur. The measurements of 57 eggs average 38.6 by 28.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 42.4 by 29.5, 36.1 by 29.9, and 37.5 by 25.5 millimeters.

Young.—The period of incubation is from 18 to 20 days, and it is shared by both sexes. Mr. Philipp (1925) says that three birds taken from the nest were all males. The young leave the nest soon after they are hatched, and wander about in the long grass, where their concealing coloration makes them very hard to find. One day, while watching snipe with J. R. Whitaker on a large marsh near the mouth of Sandy River in Newfoundland, I saw a snipe several times go down into the grass at a certain place. Thinking to find a nest there I made a careful search, and finally found one small downy young; but not another one could I find in a long hunt. This moist meadow full of grassy hummocks is a great breeding place for snipe. Here we frequently saw snipe sitting in trees, bushes, or on telegraph poles, uttering their loud kep kep kep notes of protest. On the girders of a steel bridge that spans the river at this point Mr. Whitaker has seen as many as five snipe perched at one time.

Mr. Sutton (1923) describes the behavior of an anxious mother as follows:

The mother's antics so claimed my attention that I did not keep close enough watch of the young, and eventually was unable to find them. I hesitated to tramp about much at the time for fear of stepping upon them. The mother bird grunted and clucked incessantly and fell upon her side uttering weird cries, and beating her wings pitiably. At times she would dart into the air and circle about in great haste, very close to me and alight in the tall grass, whence she would run gracefully away until she was again plainly in view. As she ran about her head was held rather stiffly, and it seemed that moving it from side to side much caused her inconvenience. In fact once or twice a definite impression was given that she was carrying something in her mouth, her head was held at such a strained angle.

Plumages.—The young snipe in its dark and richly-colored natal down is one of the handsomest of the young waders. The upper parts, including the crown, back, wings, and thighs, are variegated or marbled with velvety black, "bay," "chestnut," and "amber brown"; the down is mainly black at the base and brown-tipped; the entire upper parts are spotted with small round white spots at the tips of some of the down filaments, producing a beautiful effect of color contrasts and a surprisingly protective coloration. The head is distinctively marked with a white spot on the forehead, a black crescent above it and a black triangle below it, partially concealed by brown tips; there is a distinct black loral stripe, extending faintly beyond the eye, and a less distinct black malar stripe; between these two is a conspicuous, large, white, cheek patch. The chin and upper throat are "light ochraceous buff"; below this on the lower throat is a large sooty-black area, partially concealed by brown tips, these "tawny" brown tips predominating on the breast and flanks, and shading off to "pale pinkish cinnamon" on the belly.

The juvenal plumage appears first on the back and scapulars, then on the breast and wing coverts. A bird in my collection, about half grown has the above parts well feathered and the remiges one-third grown; but the head and rump are still downy and the rectrices have not yet started. The juvenal plumage is like the adult, except that the buff edgings of the feathers on the sides of the back and the scapulars, forming the stripes, are narrower and paler, sometimes almost white on the outer webs. The body feathers and some of the scapulars and tertials are molted during the fall, making the young bird almost indistinguishable from the adult.

Both young birds and adults have a partial prenuptial molt in the late winter and early spring, involving the contour feathers, wing coverts, tertials, and the tail. Adults have a complete molt between July and October. The spring and fall plumages are alike except that the fresh fall plumage is somewhat more richly colored.

Food.—The feeding habits of the Wilson snipe are much like those of the woodcock, except that it often feeds in much wetter places and is somewhat less nocturnal. Benjamin T. Gault (1902) discovered by observation that snipe occasionally resort to open mud flats, unmindful of the cover of darkness and that they feed at all hours of the day. He describes their method of feeding as follows:

The snipe seemed to select as special feeding grounds the water line just bordering the flats, where the mud was soft and into which they delighted in sinking their bills to the fullest depth. And in withdrawing them they never elevated their necks in true sandpiper style. On the contrary they kept their heads well "chucked down," so to speak, and in moving about from place to place, which they seldom did, however, continue to hold them in the same fashion.

In some respect their probing methods resembled the rooting of swine—a simple, up and down forward movement, and if remembered rightly, without lateral twists or side thrusts of any kind, and at times exposing fully one-half of the bill.

Whether the Wilson snipe actually do resort to the so-called "suction" method of procuring their food is a question still undetermined in my mind. The glasses however brought out the important information that the probing or feeling movements of the bill were accompanied every now and then with a guttural or swallowing motion of the throat, which at times developed into a decided gulp, as though large morsels of some kind were being taken down, and this without the removal of the bill from the muck.

Henry W. Henshaw (1875) describes an entirely different method of feeding; he says:

In migrating, however, especially in Arizona and New Mexico, did it depend wholly upon its usual methods of obtaining sustenance, it would fare badly, since, in some sections, there is a total lack of meadow and marsh, and then it may be seen in broad midday running along the sandy borders of the streams, and picking up from among the pebbles and débris any tidbits in the shape of insects it can find. It retains, however, even under these adverse conditions, its habit of squatting, and, when approached closely I have seen it lower its body close to the ground, shrink as it were into as little space as possible, and so remain till I was within a few feet, when it would get up with its well known scaip, scaip, and, following the turns and sinuosities of the streams, endeavor to find some little covered nook into which it could drop out of sight.

M. P. Skinner watched a snipe feeding on the muddy shore of a pond in the Yellowstone Valley; he says in his notes:

He was about 6 inches from shore and at each stroke his bill went in up to his eyes. The strokes were rapid like those of a woodpecker. He covered a space perhaps 4 inches wide and 15 feet long in an hour, getting something every half dozen strokes or so. He was very busy there for two hours at least.

Earthworms probably constitute the principal food of the Wilson snipe, but it also eats cutworms, wireworms, leaches, grasshoppers, locusts, beetles, mosquitoes, other insects and their larvae, and some seeds of marsh plants.

Behavior.—Snipe are notorious for their erratic flight and they often, probably usually, do dodge and zigzag when they first flush in alarm, but not always; I have seen them fly away as steadily as any other shore bird. Snipe usually lie closely crouched on the ground trusting to their excellent protective coloration, and do not flush until nearly trodden upon; so that in their hurry to get away their flight is erratic. When well under way their flight is steady and swift with the occasional turnings common to all shore birds. When first flushed they generally fly low, but when flying from one part of a marsh to another, or when migrating, they fly very high. When alighting they pitch down suddenly from a great height and then flutter down slowly into the grass or drop straight down with wings elevated and bill pointing upwards. They are less gregarious than other waders; they usually flush singly, but often within a few yards of each other if plentiful. They are seldom seen in flocks. John T. Nichols tells me in his notes of a flock of seven which he saw on Long Island:

They were flying high from the east to west, the regular southward lane for shore birds, and bunched up like dowitchers or yellow-legs as they circled over the marsh, then slanted down obliquely (as these other birds would have done) to alight on a piece of dead stubble. By the time I reached them they had scattered somewhat; four (scattered) and three (bunched) flushed from this spot in close succession, and went off into the southwest. The migration of the snipe may be mostly by night; it certainly flies to some extent along the coast by day.

And Harry S. Swarth (1922) says:

While the usual manner of occurrence was for a single bird to be flushed, or perhaps two or three within a few square yards, there were times when snipe were noted in small flocks, almost like sandpipers in their actions. Groups of 10 or 12 individuals were seen circling about through the air in close formation and wheeling or turning in perfect unison. At such times almost the only thing to betray the identity of the birds was the call note, uttered at frequent intervals. At no time, however, did birds flushed from the ground depart in flock formation.

On the ground the snipe moves about deliberately with bill pointing downwards. If alarmed it squats for concealment before jumping into flight when hard pressed; the longitudinal stripes on its back and head so closely resemble prostrate stems of dead grass that the bird is difficult to distinguish. Mr. Skinner "saw one alight and run rapidly along the ground for 20 feet, erect with head high, like a running bob white." C. J. Pennock watched one standing on a bare mud flat with "a continued up and down rhythmic movement of the entire body." E. H. Forbush (1925) writes:

The snipe can swim and dive and uses both wings and feet under water in its efforts to escape. Mr. Will H. Parsons writes that he shot one that fell into a little clear streamlet where later he found it dead, under water, grasping a rootlet in its bill. Later, on the Scioto River, as he relates, he shot another which fell into the river, and, turning, swam back toward the shore. On seeing him approach it dived, and he saw it grasp a weed with its bill. Wading in he secured the bird "stone dead."

Voice.—Eliminating the winnowing flight notes, which are unquestionably instrumental, the Wilson snipe has a variety of vocal notes. The one most often heard is the familiar scaipe note, a note of alarm and warning, given as the bird rises in hurried flight. This note has been variously expressed in writing, perhaps best by the word "escape", which the snipe often does, unless the sportsman is smart enough to say "no you don't," and prove it. "On the breeding grounds we frequently hear its loud notes of protest, uttered while it is flying about or perched on some tree or post; these are in the form of a loud clear whistle, like wheat wheat wheat wheat or more subdued in tone like whuck whuck whuck whuck; they are always rapidly uttered and usually consist of four or five notes. E. W. Nelson (1887) refers to a similar note heard on the breeding grounds, as yak yak yak yak in quick, energetic, explosive syllables. At the time when the bird is uttering its note, it flies along within a short distance of the ground with a peculiar jerky movement of the body and wings as every note is uttered."

Mr. Nichols says in his notes:

When a bird gets up almost from underfoot, the scape is at times replaced by a series of short, hurried notes of similar character. It is interesting to find in the Wilson's snipe this imperfect differentiation of a note uttered at the moment of taking wing from one uttered when in or approaching full flight—as it is a condition slightly different from the calls of other more social shore birds which trust comparatively little to concealment, take wing while danger is still at a distance with hurried minor notes, so soft as to readily escape notice, and have each a loud diagnostic flight call of much service in their identification.

The scape of the snipe has sufficient resemblance to the woodcock's peent, which forms a part of the nuptial performance of that species, to leave little doubt that the two are homologous (that is, of the same derivation), if we assume snipe and woodcock to be related. It is, however, more analogous (that is, of corresponding place or purpose) with the wing twitter of the woodcock. Its harsh quality is in keeping with the voices of unrelated denisons of marsh and swamp, herons, rails, frogs, etc., and the discords of close-by bog sounds continually in its ears. The quality of the snipe's call contrasts sharply with the peculiarly clear, mellow whistle of the black-breasted plover, for instance, and ringing calls of species of similar habit, with carrying power over the open distances of their haunts. The connecting series of limicoline voices, through the reedy calls of such marsh-loving birds as the pectoral sandpiper, leaves little doubt that there is a correlation between habitat and quality of voice.

In some notes from Alaska, he writes:

July 17, on the slope of a low, gentle, tundra hill a little way back from the shore, ahead of me a snipe fluttered up a short distance, then down; up, then down; accompanying this performance with chup chup chup chup chup chew chew chew chew chew. It alighted in a comparatively open space with a couple of small bog holes of water, surrounded with a circle of scrub willows, and here I presently flushed it again. It rose with a chape note, more muffled and reedy than the ordinary Wilson snipe scape, and, curving downwind, rose higher, attaining considerable elevation in the distance, as I followed it with my glass. It now began to zigzag up and down, maintaining approximately its position in the sky to leeward. Meanwhile I heard an unfamiliar more or less whistled peep-er-weep once or twice, and an intermittent winnowing sound, wish wish wish wish wish, etc. Being uncertain as to whether these sounds came from the distant snipe, or from some other bird closer at hand in the air, I took my glasses off the former to look about me, and as I feared I should do, lost track of it in the sky. Presently the winnowing ceased and I began to hear a continuous harsh cuta-cuta-cuta-cuta from over the brow of the hill, which turned out to be a snipe, presumably the same one which had returned, standing on top of the only stake thereabouts.

Field marks.—The Wilson snipe should be easily recognized by its long bill, its erratic flight, its conspicuous stripes, and the rufous near the end of its tail. The harsh scaipe note is diagnostic. It might be confused with the dowitcher, but the flight, notes, and usual haunts of the latter are different. I have often thought that the pectoral sandpiper resembles the snipe, as it rises from the grass, but it lacks the long bill, and is not so conspicuously striped on the back.

Fall.—The fall migration of snipe is dependent on the weather, the first early frosts are apt to start them along; when the brilliant red leaves of the swamp maples add their touch of color to the marshes, and when the vegetation in the meadows begins to take on the rich hues of autumn, then we may look for the coming of the snipe. They are by no means confined to fresh-water marshes at this season. I have occasionally flushed a Wilson snipe on the salt marshes of Cape Cod, and have frequently found them on the dry grassy shores of islands in inland ponds.

Wells W. Cooke (1914) says:

They seem reluctant to return south in fall, even though they can have no appreciation of the constant persecution which awaits them during the six months' sojourn in their winter home. A few migrants appear in the northern part of the United States in early September, and, moving slowly southward, reach the southern part of the Gulf States shortly after the middle of October. Soon the main body of the birds follows, and all normally keep south of the line of frozen ground. Yet every winter some laggards remain much farther north, feeding about springs or streams. A few can usually be found on Cape Cod, Mass., while in the Rocky Mountains, near Sweetwater Lake, Colorado, the presence of warm springs has enabled snipe to remain throughout an entire winter, though the air temperature fell to 30° F. below zero.

Mr. Brewster (1906) writes:

During exceptionally wet autumns snipe occasionally resort in large numbers to the highly cultivated truck farms of Arlington and Belmont. An interesting instance of this happened in September, 1875, when a flight, larger than any that I have known to occur in the Cambridge region before or since, settled in some water-soaked fields covered with crops of corn, potatoes, cabbages, etc., on the Hittinger farm, Belmont. Learning of the presence of these birds about a week after their arrival, I visited the place early the next morning, but all save 10 or a dozen of them had departed, owing no doubt, to the fact that there had been a hard frost during the preceding night. The borings and other signs which they had left convinced me, however, that the statement made to me at the time by Mr. Jacob Hittinger, to the effect that he had started four or five hundred snipe there only the day before, was probably not an exaggeration of the truth.

Game.—The Wilson snipe, improperly called "jack snipe," but more properly called "English snipe," is one of our most popular game birds. Probably more snipe have been killed by sportsmen than any other game bird. It ranks ahead of all other shore birds and upland game birds except, possibly, the woodcock, ruffed grouse, and quail. When the startling cry of the snipe arouses the sportsman to instant action he realizes that he is up against a real gamey proposition. He must be a good shot indeed to make a creditable score against such quick erratic flyers. A tramp over the open meadows, brown, red, and golden in their autumn livery, with one or two good dogs quartering the ground in plain sight and with an occasional shot at a swiftly flying bird, is one of the delights of a crisp autumn day. The birds will lie closely on a calm day, but on a windy, blustering day they are restless and wild. It is well to hunt down wind as the birds usually rise against the wind and will fly towards and then quartering away from the shooter. When two men hunt along a narrow marsh, the man on the windward side will get most of the shooting. Snipe are usually shot on wet meadows or marshes, but that they are often found in other places is shown by the following quotations from Dwight W. Huntington (1903):

Audubon says the snipe is never found in the woods, but Forester mentions finding it in wild, windy weather early in the season in the skirts of moist woodlands under sheltered lee sides of young plantations, among willow, alder, and brier brakes, and, in short, wherever there is good, soft, springy feeding ground perfectly sheltered and protected from the wind by trees and shrubbery.

Abbott says: "During the autumn I have found them along neglected meadow ditches overhung by large willow trees, and again hidden in the reeds along the banks of creeks. I have shot them repeatedly in wet woodland meadows. I have often found snipe in bushy tracts and among the swamp willows, but I have never seen them in the forest, and believe they so rarely resort to the woods that it would not be worth while to seek them there."

Snipe must have been exceedingly abundant 50 or 60 years ago, as the oft-quoted achievements of James J. Pringle (1899) will illustrate. He was not a market hunter but a gentleman (?) sportsman, who shot for the fun of it and gave the birds away to his friends. His excuses for excessive slaughter and his apologies for not killing more are interesting; he writes:

The birds being such great migrants, and only in the country for a short time, I had no mercy on them and killed all I could, for a snipe once missed might never be seen again.

I shot with only one gun at a time; had no loader, but loaded my gun myself; had I shot with two guns and had a loader I would, of course, have killed a great many more birds, but in those days and in those parts it was impossible to get a man that could be trusted to load.

During the 20 years from 1867 to 1887 he shot, on his favorite hunting grounds in Louisiana, 69,087 snipe and a total of 71,859 of all game birds; but his shooting fell off during the next 10 years for he increased his grand total of snipe to only 78,602 and of all game birds to only 82,101! His best day, undoubtedly a world's record, was December 11, 1877, when he shot in six hours 366 snipe and 8 other birds. On his best seven consecutive shooting days, alternate days in December, 1877, he killed 1,943 snipe and 25 other birds. During the winter of 1874-75 he killed 6,615 snipe. Captain Bogardus, the famous trap shot, killed, with the help of a friend, 340 snipe on one day in Illinois, and seldom got less than 150 on good days. With such excessive shooting all through the fall, winter, and spring, is it to be wondered at that the snipe have decreased in numbers?

Winter.—As mentioned above snipe spend the winters in small numbers as far north as they can find unfrozen marshes and spring holes, but their main winter resorts are in the Southern States, the West Indies, and northern South America. They were formerly enormously abundant in the marshes and savannas of Florida and the other Gulf States, where they are still common in winter. C. J. Pennock tells me that they are still abundant all winter about St. Marks, Florida, his earliest and latest dates being September 12 and May 10. Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that, in South Carolina, the snipe "are most abundant during the months of February and March, and at that time multitudes frequent the rice plantations, provided the water is not too deep over the land." J. H. Bowles (1918) says that in Washington "cold weather does not seem to bother them much. On January 1, 1916, when all fresh-water marshes were frozen over, large numbers of them gathered on the Tacoma Flats." Mr. Skinner writes to me that in Yellowstone Park they are found in winter along creeks and rivers kept open by warm springs and on ground overflowed by warm water from the hot springs.

Aiken and Warren (1914) tell of the winter habits of the Wilson snipe, in El Paso County, Colorado, as follows:

Fountain Creek rarely freezes over entirely below its exit from the mountains, and along its banks there are many places where water that runs through the sand comes to the surface and forms springy holes and marshy meadows which are warmer than surface water. These become the winter feeding grounds for the snipe and one or a pair often content themselves with a very small area of muck. But at times of severe cold many of the smaller holes freeze and then the snipe concentrate at places where a larger flow of water keeps the holes open. On January 15, 1908, with 6 inches of snow on the ground and below zero weather Aiken visited a small beaver pond on the Skinner ranch 6 miles south of Colorado Springs. A bit of marsh above the pond and a short stretch of ooze along the outlet below remained open, and in this small area of one-fourth of an acre were 25 to 30 snipe. Some years ago a snipe was found running upon the ice when everything in the vicinity was frozen solid. A few snipe winter along banks of streams in the mountains.

That snipe know enough to protect themselves from storms may be illustrated by narrating here one of Aiken's experiences in Utah about 20 years ago. He was beating a snipe marsh near one edge of which extended a narrow arroyo or gully in which were some trees and bushes. The weather had been fair until without warning a heavy snow storm set in. At once snipe began to rise wildly from different parts of the marsh and one after another directed their flight toward the same point in the arroyo and dove between its banks. Upon investigation 8 or 10 snipe were found together in a little cave in the side of the arroyo that was partly hidden by bushes so that they were well protected from any storm. We conclude this was not the first time the snipe had resorted to this friendly shelter since they knew so well where to go.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—North America, Central America, the West Indies, and northern South America. Accidental in the Hawaiian Islands.

Breeding range.—North to Alaska (Shumagin Islands, Bethel, St. Michael, Nome, Kowak River, Cape Smith, and Fort Yukon); Mackenzie (La Pierre House, Fort Anderson, Dease River, and Fort Smith); northeastern Manitoba (Fort Churchill); northern Ontario (Cape Henrietta Maria); Ungava (Fort George and Great Whale River); Labrador (Nain); and Newfoundland (Halls Bay, Grand Lake, and St. Johns). East to Labrador (Nain); Newfoundland (St. Johns); eastern Quebec (Magdalen Islands); Nova Scotia (Baddeck and Halifax); Maine (Calais and Waldo County); Massachusetts (Salem and Brookline); Connecticut (Portland); New York (Croton Falls); New Jersey (Newfoundland, Norristown, Trenton); and southeastern Pennsylvania (Mill Grove). South to southeastern Pennsylvania (Mill Grove); northwestern Pennsylvania (Meadville); northern Ohio (Fremont); northern Indiana (Miami, English Lake, and Cedar Lake); northern Illinois (Hinsdale and Winnebago); Iowa (Sabula, Grinnell, and Boone); Colorado (Estes Park, Barr, San Luis Lake, and Silverton); Utah (Parleys Park and Fairfield); southwestern Idaho (Nampa); and northern California (Sierra Valley and Shasta Valley). West to northern California (Shasta Valley); Oregon (Fort Klamath, Corvallis, and Salem); Washington (Yakima and Olympia); British Columbia (Chilliwack, Vancouver, and Metlakatla); and Alaska (Sitka, Kodiak, Nushagak, and Shumagin Islands).

Wilson's snipe also have been detected in summer north to Chimo, Ungava, Hopedale, Labrador, and Sandwich Bay, Quebec, and have been found lingering (probably non-breeders) south to Chloride, New Mexico, and Corpus Christi and San Angelo, Texas, while there is one breeding record for northern Los Angeles County, California (Mailliard, 1914).

Winter range.—The Wilson snipe winters regularly north to Washington (Tacoma); British Columbia (Chilliwack and Okanagan Landing); Wyoming (Yellowstone Park); Colorado (El Paso County); southern Arizona (Tucson and Fort Huachuca); southern New Mexico (Rio Mimbres); Texas (Austin, Kerrville, and Bonham); Oklahoma (Caddo); Arkansas (Fayetteville and Stuttgart); Alabama (Coosada and Montgomery County); central North Carolina (Raleigh); and southeastern Virginia (Virginia Beach); eastern North Carolina (Pea Islands); Bermuda; South Carolina (Charleston); Georgia (Savannah and Blackbeard Island); Florida (Canaveral, Orlando, Kissimmee, and Royal Palm Hammock); Bahama Islands (New Providence, Watling Islands, and Great Inagua); Porto Rico (Guanica Lagoon); and the Lesser Antilles (Antigua, St. Vincent, Barbados, Grenada, and Trinidad). South to the Lesser Antilles (Trinidad); northern Venezuela (Caracas); Brazil (Rio de Janeiro); Colombia (Medellin and Puerto Berrio); and Panama (Frijole and Chitra). West to Panama (Chitra and the Canal Zone); Costa Rica (San Jose); Nicaragua (Greytown and the Escondido River); Honduras (Comayagua and Manatee Lagoon); Guatemala (Duenas and Atitlan); Mexico (Guanajuato, Escuinapa, Mazatlan, San Jose del Cabo, and Colonia Diaz); California (Salton Sea, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Eureka); and Washington (Tacoma).

It also has been known to winter (where warm springs or other factors assure open water) north to Nevada (Paradise), Utah (Provo), Montana (Terry, Helena, and near Bozeman), Wyoming (Como and Cody), Colorado (Fountain Creek, Sweetwater Lake, Clear Creek near Denver, and near Julesburg), Nebraska (Holt, Sioux, Dawes, and Cherry Counties, and along the Missouri River), North Dakota (Fort Yates), Iowa (Hancock County), Wisconsin (Milwaukee), Michigan (Grand Rapids), southern Ontario (Barrie), Ohio (Granville), New York (Oneida, Onondaga Lake, Poughkeepsie, Ithaca, New York City, and Long Island), Connecticut (Portland and New Haven), Massachusetts (Jamaica Plain, near Boston, Peabody, Hancock, and Cape Cod), and Nova Scotia (Wolfville). It has been detected in Alaska at Wrangell, on November 11, 1920, and at Craig, on December 7, 1919.

Spring migration.—Early dates of arrival in the spring are: District of Columbia, Washington, February 17; Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, March 7, Harrisburg, March 11, Carlisle, March 18, Berwyn, March 21, and Meadville, March 22; New Jersey, Fort Mott, March 16, and Pennsville, March 20; New York, Syracuse, February 26, Branchport, March 5, Orient Point, March 12, Buffalo, March 13, Brockport, March 18, Lansing, March 29, Oswego, April 1, and Ithaca, April 3; Connecticut, Portland, March 18, and New Haven, March 19; Massachusetts, Lynn, March 2, Newburyport, March 8, Boston, March 19, Somerset, March 21, and Salem, March 21; Vermont, Rutland, April 2; Maine, Farmington, April 6, and Lewiston, April 8; Quebec, Quebec, April 18, Montreal, April 19, and Godbout, May 5; New Brunswick, Scotch Lake, April 5, Petitcodiac, April 27, and Chatham, April 28; Nova Scotia, Halifax, April 5, Pictou, April 11, and Kentville, April 19; Kentucky, Bowling Green, February 24, Guthrie, February 25, and Russellville, February 26; Missouri, St. Louis, February 17, Old Orchard, February 20, Chillicothe, March 2, Jonesburg, March 11, and Kansas City, March 14; Illinois, Lebanon, February 11, Odin, March 6, Addison, March 10, Carlinville, March 11, Englewood, March 15, Morgan Park, March 17, Rockford, March 19, and Wheaton, March 26; Indiana, Bicknell, February 13, Greensburg, February 28, Frankfort, March 4, Greencastle, March 5, Bloomington, March 6, Brookville, March 7, Terre Haute, March 9, Vincennes, March 11, and Waterloo, March 12; Ohio, Granville, March 3, Cleveland, March 4, Columbus, March 8, Hudson, March 11, Sandusky, March 13, Oberlin, March 15, and New Bremen, March 18; Michigan, Ann Arbor, March 6, Vicksburg, March 18, Hillsdale, March 21, Kalamazoo, March 22, Battle Creek, March 24, Manchester, March 25, and Detroit, March 28; Ontario, Dunnville, March 24, Madoc, March 29, Queensboro, March 30, and Listowel, April 1; Iowa, Sabula, March 15, Boone, March 17, Grinnell, March 18, Keokuk, March 18, Coralville, March 19, Wall Lake, March 22, Cedar Rapids, March 23, and Sioux City, March 28; Wisconsin. Hillside, March 16, Madison, March 18, Elkhorn, March 19, Waukesha, March 20, Delavan, March 23, and Racine, March 24; Minnesota, Hutchinson, March 30, Minneapolis, March 29, Heron Lake, April 1, and Elk River, April 2; Oklahoma, Copan, March 8; Kansas, Emporia, March 14, Independence, March 19, and Wichita, March 19; Nebraska, Falls City, March 15, and Badger, March 25; South Dakota, Forestburg, March 12, Huron, March 15, and Sioux Falls, March 15; North Dakota, Fargo, April 15, Larimore, April 16, Lisbon, April 18, and Grafton, April 19; Manitoba, Greenridge, April 2, Dalton, April 8, Reaburn, April 9, Margaret, April 10, Aweme, April 14, and Shell River, April 16; Saskatchewan, Qu'Appelle, April 9, and Indian Head, April 20; Colorado, Denver, March 10, Boulder, March 19, and Sweetwater Lake, March 26; Wyoming, Yellowstone Park, March 16; Idaho, Neeley, March 24, Meridian, April 9, and Payette Lake, April 17; Montana, Missoula, March 4, Helena, March 12, and Columbia Falls, March 27; Alberta, Onoway, April 13, Carvel, April 15, and Edmonton, April 21; and Mackenzie, Fort Providence, May 2, and Fort Simpson, May 10.

Late dates of departure in the spring are: Costa Rica, February 16; Haiti, April 13; Florida, Tallahassee, April 10, Fruitland Park, April 10, Gainesville, April 15, and St. Marks, May 10; Georgia, Cumberland, April 14, and Savannah, April 15; South Carolina, Columbia, April 19, and Charleston, May 1; Chihuahua, Lake Palomas, April 8; Lower California, Colnett, April 8, and Salton River, April 19; and Texas, Kerrville, April 11, Bonham, April 30, and Austin, April 30.

Fall migration.—Early dates of arrival in the fall are: Texas, Tivoli, August 19; Lower California, San Jose del Cabo, August 28; Chihuahua, Janos River, September 5, and Chuechupa, September 19; Sonora, August 19; South Carolina, Frogmore, September 10; Georgia, Savannah, September 15; Florida, St. Marks, September 12; Lesser Antilles, St. Croix, September 24, and Barbadoes, October 11; Porto Rico, Guanica Lagoon, September 29; Costa Rica, October 9; and Panama, Canal Zone, October 7.

Late dates of departure in the fall are: Montana, Big Sandy, October 24, and Missoula, December 5; Idaho, Meridian, November 21, and Ketchum, December 20; Wyoming, Sundance, November 25, and Yellowstone Park, December 9; Utah, Provo, November 25; Colorado, Greeley, November 3, and Boulder, December 24; Manitoba, Killarney, October 24, Aweme, November 5, and Margaret, November 10; North Dakota, Chase Lake, October 21, Westhope, November 3, and Marstonmoor, November 3; South Dakota, Harrison, October 24, and Sioux Falls, November 22; Nebraska, Falls City, November 20, Crawford, December 7, and Broken Bow, December 12; Kansas, Independence, December 13; Minnesota, Elk River, November 1, Jackson, November 6, Parkers Prairie, November 7, Fort Snelling, November 13, and Heron Lake, November 14; Wisconsin, Unity, November 3, Madison, November 6, Elkhorn, November 8, Shiocton, November 13, North Freedom, November 14, and Milwaukee, November 15; Iowa, Davenport, November 2, Grinnell, November 4, Hillsboro, November 11, Indianola, November 15, Marshalltown, November 18, Wall Lake, November 28, and Keokuk, November 28; Ontario, Toronto, October 29, Longpoint, November 2, Windsor, November 9, Kingston, November 12, Ottawa, November 17, and Point Pelee, November 21; Michigan, Hillsdale, November 3, Ann Arbor, November 5, Manistee, November 7, Manchester, November 12, Detroit, November 15, and Vicksburg, December 30; Ohio, Scio, November 6, Salem, November 16, Oberlin, November 22, Youngstown, November 21, Sandusky, December 2, and Cleveland, December 29; Indiana, Bloomington, October 24, Bicknell, November 9, and Lyons, November 25; Illinois, Glen Ellyn, November 4, Canton, November 8, Fernwood, November 13, Lawrenceville, November 15, Elgin, November 17, and La Grange, November 23; Missouri, St. Louis, November 21, and St. Charles County, December 14; Nova Scotia, Pictou, October 24, and Halifax, December 3; New Brunswick, Scotch Lake, October 20, and St. John, November 5; Quebec, Quebec, November 5, and Montreal, November 13; Maine, Lewiston, November 5, Ellsworth, November 8, and Portland, November 15; Massachusetts, East Templeton, November 23, Salem, November 25, Lynn, December 20, and Belchertown, December 20; Rhode Island, Newport, December 3; Connecticut, New Haven, December 1, Portland, December 7, and Lakeville, December 28; New York, Geneva, November 3, West Winfield, November 13, Fair Haven Light, November 17, Branchport, November 24, Shelter Island, November 29, Madison County, December 10, and Orient Point, December 20; New Jersey, Bloomfield, November 1, Camden, November 7, Egg Island, November 8, and Pennsville, December 1; Pennsylvania, Berwyn, November 1, and Erie, November 21; and District of Columbia, Washington, December 22.

Casual records.—A Wilson's snipe was killed at Naaleho Plantation, Kau, Hawaiian Islands, several years prior to 1900 and a second was reported as seen in the same locality in the fall of the same year (Henshaw, 1902). It also has been reported as taken in Great Britain, but the record is too doubtful to warrant serious consideration.

Egg dates.—Magdalen Islands: 36 records, June 1 to 27; 18 records, June 3 to 14. Alberta: 39 records, May 16 to July; 20 records, May 28 to June 10. Utah: 48 records, May 8 to July 24; 24 records, May 12 to June 2.

CAPELLA MEDIA (Latham) GREAT SNIPE

Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain

HABITS

The claim of this species to a place on the American list rests on a specimen obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada many years ago and now in the collection of the British Museum. Its breeding home is in Northern Europe and Asia, but on migration and during the winter months it has been met with in the British Isles, throughout southern Europe and Africa south to the Cape Province, as well as southern Asia from India westward. Unlike the common snipe, it frequently occurs singly and is by no means confined to marshy spots, but may be met with on rough pastures, moorlands, and fields. To this characteristic it owes its name of "solitary snipe."

Spring.—On the northward migration it is of very rare occurrence in the British Isles, and has only been recorded on a few occasions in Morocco, but of regular occurrence in south Spain; but is not uncommon on passage in Malta in April and May and occurs in small numbers in Italy in April and May and in Corfu and Epirus in March, also migrating in greater numbers along the west coast of the Black Sea. Probably the majority of the birds which visit South Africa make their way northward along the east side of the Continent. The northerly movement begins in Natal in January or February, so that it extends over a period of four or five months.

Courtship.—Observations on the courtship of this species are not numerous, for it is nocturnal in its habits and, except during the mating season, decidedly unsociable. In western Europe there has been a great diminution of the breeding stock of late years. Jutland, which was at one time a well-known breeding place, has long been entirely deserted, and it is necessary to visit the morasses of Scandinavia and Esthonia or Finland and Russia before one can make the acquaintance of this species in any numbers on its nesting ground. Unlike the common and jack snipe, there are no aerial evolutions to call attention to the display, but the whole is conducted on the ground between sunset and sunrise; and as the notes of the birds are not loud, it may well be imagined that it may readily be overlooked. The number of birds which attend at the "Spil," as it is called in Norway, or "Tok" (Russian), varies from eight to a dozen pairs to twenty or more in districts where the birds are comparatively common. Here late in May the males may be heard uttering low warbling notes, producing also sounds which have been compared to those made by running the nail along the teeth of a comb, and snapping their bills together, evidently in defiance. The display consists in expanding the tail like a fan and turning it over toward the back, the white outer feathers standing out conspicuously, with drooping wings and depressed and retracted head. In this attitude they perform a kind of dance, slowly at first, but becoming more and more rapid, and generally culminating in a series of fights between the rivals.

R. Collett, who furnished a long and detailed description of the procedure at one of these "leks" to Dresser (1871), is of opinion that the fighting is not of a serious character and consists chiefly of feeble slashes with the wings, but the Russian naturalist Alphéraky, a translation of whose interesting paper on the subject appeared in the Field for 1906 (p. 1075) with an illustration of the display, describes the ground as often strewn with feathers after these encounters. In the more northern latitudes there is of course little darkness, but there is a consensus of opinion that the display dies down about midnight and commences again as it becomes lighter. Alphéraky ascribes this to the arrival of the females on the scene. Clear and bright nights are most favorable for this performance, which seems to have some points of resemblance to that of the ruff and some to that of the black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), but a series of observations are required before we can reconcile the discrepancies and fill up the gaps in the descriptions. According to Collett there is a period in the display when the bird is in a kind of ecstasy and produces a series of varied notes beginning with a whistle or two, followed by a snapping noise with five or six notes in rapid succession, then a hissing sound, followed by a rolling sbirrrr, which becomes deeper as uttered. A number of birds displaying at the same time produces a low continuous chorus of varied sounds. This is the more remarkable as the great snipe is at other seasons a particularly silent bird, and indeed is rarely heard to utter a sound of any kind, usually rising in silence.

Nesting.—The sites vary according to locality. In Jutland they were usually on grassy flats, but in Scandinavia generally on broken ground with birch scrub here and there. Here the female scratches a hollow among the moss and deposits her four handsome eggs. F. and P. Godman (1861), who found several nests in the Bodö district, Norway, discovered one which had an incomplete set of two eggs. On returning two days later to the spot nothing was visible but some disarranged bits of moss. Alarmed by their approach the bird flew off, leaving a hole in the moss through which the eggs were visible. On a third visit the bird was found incubating the two eggs, which were on the point of hatching, and was covered with fragments of moss which she had evidently torn up and thrown over herself. None of the other nests found were concealed in any way.

Eggs.—These are normally four in number, though occasionally three may be met with. They are pyriform in shape with a pale stone colored ground and boldly spotted and blotched with dark umber, shading into black and numerous ashy gray shell markings. The markings are usually denser and more concentrated at the big end, often with a tendency to a zone. The measurements of 100 eggs from northern Europe (69 by the writer, 19 by Goebel, and 12 by Rey) average 45.3 by 31.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 48.8 by 31.9, 46.2 by 33.3, 41.2 by 31.7, and 46.5 by 29.5 millimeters. Rey (1905) gives the average weight as 1.107 g. and Goebel as 1.035 g.

Young.—As to the share of the sexes in incubation our information is scanty; but, such as it is, goes to prove that it is conducted by the female alone. Naumann (1887) gives the period as 17 to 18 days and states that as soon as the young are dried they leave the nest and take to the long grass which effectually conceals them.

Plumages.—The reader is referred to A Practical Handbook of British Birds, edited by H. F. Witherby (1920), where a complete account of the plumages and molts of this species is given.

Food.—Naumann (1887) records small worms, insect larvae, small snails, coleoptera, water insects, and larvae of Phryganeidae. Yarrell (1871) includes larvae of insects, especially Tipulidae, and small slugs as well as worms. These last seem to form the staple diet.

Behavior.—The family parties soon break up and from late autumn to its arrival on the breeding grounds it is more likely to be met with singly than in company. Its flight is not so rapid as that of the common snipe, but slower and more direct, while instead of uttering the well known scape, it either rises in silence or merely utters a guttural croaking note.

Fall.—More frequently met with in the British Isles on the autumn migration from the end of July to mid-November than in spring, but probably frequently overlooked. By the beginning of August the young are full grown normally, and gradually make their way from the high north in Norway southward, the majority of migrants taking an easterly course and only a small proportion moving south-westward to the winter quarters.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Norway, north to Tromsö, Sweden, to latitude 65° N., formerly in Denmark but now extinct, as also in Schleswig. It is said to have bred formerly in Holland and still does so in East Prussia and eastward to Estonia, Finland, Russia, according to Buturlin, up to latitude 63° near the Great Lakes, 65½° on the White Sea, and 67½° in the Petchora, while southward it is said to breed in Bessarabia (Rumania) and in the Governments of Kieff, Poltava, Kharkoff, and Voronsh, and to 51½° N. in the Urals as well as in the Caucasus. In Asia it breeds near Omsk, in the Altai and the tributaries of the Ob, but not beyond the Yenesei or in East Siberia.

Winter range.—Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal (September to March), Damara Land, Bechuana Land, Portuguese East Africa, Southwest Africa, Persia, Turkestan, and India (once).

Migration.—River Zambesi, Egypt (not uncommon), Alexandria, etc., Algeria, Greece (April 23, May 7), Cyprus, Corfu (March), Malta (March 30), Naples, Corsica (March 25), Valencia (October 9), Montenegro (April 15, 24), Asia Minor (May 9, Sept. 21), Fao, Persian Gulf, Iraq (April, Aug., Sept.).

Egg dates.—Formerly in Denmark from May 6 to June 8 (12 records), occasionally in July; in Scandinavia from end of May to middle of July (10 records, June 13 to July 15).

LYMNOCRYPTES MINIMUS (Brünnich) JACK SNIPE

Contributed by Francis Charles Robert Jourdain

HABITS

Sometime during the spring of 1919, probably in April, a specimen of this snipe was taken by a native on St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, and presented to G. Dallas Hanna. The bird is now in the collection of the California Academy of Sciences, and constitutes the only record for North America. It is, however, a widely distributed species, breeding not only in Arctic Europe, but also across the greater part of northern Asia, and wintering south to north Africa and southern Asia.

Courtship.—Of the courtship actions in the strict sense of the words we have practically no observations, as this species has rarely been kept in captivity and then singly and for short periods. The nuptial flight is, however, more conspicuous and was described in the oft-quoted letter of John Wolley, written from Muoniovara on November 27th, 1853, to W. C. Hewitson (1856), and published in the third edition of "Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds" by that writer. To Wolley belongs the credit of being the first to discover and bring to the knowledge of naturalists the eggs of this species, for the eggs previously ascribed to this species from localities much farther south were not by any means satisfactorily authenticated. Wolley had been for some time at his headquarters on the borders of Sweden and what is now Finland, when, on June 17th, 1853, while working the great marsh at Muonioniska, he first heard the jack snipe, though as he states:

At the time I could not at all guess what it was—an extraordinary sound unlike anything I had heard before. I could not tell from what direction it came, and it filled me with a curious suspense. My Finnish interpreter thought it was a Capercally (Tetrao urogallus) and at the time I could not contradict him; but soon I found that it was a small bird gliding at a wild pace at a great height over the marsh. I know not how better to describe the noise than by likening it to the cantering of a horse in the distance over a hard hollow road; it came in fours with a similar cadence and a like clear, yet hollow, sound. The same day we found a nest which seemed of a kind unknown to me. The next morning I went to Kharto-uoma with a good strength of beaters. I kept them as well as I could in line, myself in the middle, my Swedish traveling companion on one side, and the Finn talker on the other. Whenever a bird was put off its nest the man who saw it was to pass on the word and the whole line was to stand whilst I went to examine the eggs and take them at once or observe the bearings of the spot for another visit as might be necessary. We had not been many hours in the marsh when I saw a bird get up before Herr Saloman, and I marked it down. In the meantime the nest was found and when I came up the owner was declared to have appeared striped on the back and not white over the tail. A sight of the eggs, as they lay untouched, raised my expectations to the highest pitch. I went to the spot where I had marked the bird, put it up again, found that it was indeed a jack snipe, and again saw it after a short, low flight drop suddenly into cover; once more it rose a few feet from where it had settled, I fired and in a minute had in my hand a true jack snipe, the undoubted parent of the nest of eggs. In the course of the day and night I found three more nests and examined the birds of each. One allowed me to touch it with my hand before it rose, and another only got up when my foot was within 6 inches of it. It was very fortunate that I was thus able satisfactorily to identify so fine a series of eggs, for they differ considerably from one another.

The great German ornithologist Naumann (1887) also describes the nuptial flight, as observed by him in still weather on spring evenings; as scarcely audible at over a hundred paces and recalling the tapping noise made by the death-watch beetle. He writes the sound as "Tettettettettett," etc., and says each note lasts six seconds at a time, as the bird sweeps over the marsh now rising and then falling in tone as it is uttered.

V. Russon, the Estonian ornithologist, also observed the flight on a marsh near Kurkull, in Estonia, and noticed that the snipe rose high in the air and gradually descended again after a flight of several hundred yards. He compares the sound to the words: "Lok-toggi, lok-toggi, lok-toggi," which certainly agree with the impression given by Wolley's graphic description. He says the local names current in the district are derived from the resemblance the bird's notes bear to the rattle of a dilapidated wagon wheel. In the night the jack snipe is silent, but the display begins again with the first glimmering of dawn, but does not as a rule last long. The note described by Naumann he only heard on two occasions just before the bird settled in the swamp and believed it to be caused by rapid snapping of the bill.

Nesting.—Like the common snipe, the jack snipe breeds in the marshes, choosing a slight hollow in a fairly dry, grassy, or sedge-grown spot, but close to open swamp. Wolley describes the five nests seen by him as being all alike in structure, "made loosely of little pieces of grass and equisetum not at all woven together, with a few old leaves of the dwarf birch." It is an extremely close sitter, not stirring from its eggs till almost trodden on, while one bird actually allowed Wolley to touch it with his hand before it flew. The breeding season is late, for eggs are rarely met with before mid-June and have been recorded throughout July and even in August.

Ralph Chislett (1927) has published his recent experience with the nesting habits of the jack snipe, from which the following is quoted:

The wide marsh stretched for a number of miles between the birch-clad slopes of some low hills. From the hillsides, at intervals, open sheets of water of varying dimensions could be seen, and a fringe of the birch forest stretched almost down to a small, peaty pool. Through the woodland fringe a stream hurried, clear and cold with melted snow from the hill. Leaving the stream at a place where yellow globe-flowers grew in profusion, we followed the ridges of soft ground which intersected the marsh. Progress was impeded by scrub-willow, while hummocks of moss and mounds of crowberry and vaccinium overlay the peat foundation of the ridge, many of the hummocks being white with cloudberry blooms. Between the ridges in the marshy tracts grass grew thinly through the moss, and still more thinly in the centers, where our feet were brought up firmly at a depth of eighteen inches by the still frozen bottom. Later in the summer the marshes would probably be deeper.

Not more than two hundred yards from the wood, a ridge sank and allowed the surplus water from one flattened area of grassy marsh to drain through to the next. On the north side of the trickle the ground rose slowly to the full height of the ridge again, perhaps a yard above the marsh-level. Midway up the little slope, on a dry bit of ground, a few stalks of scrub-birch partially shielded the jack snipe from view as it sat on the nest by the side of a cloudberry plant. Not that shelter was needed. The nest would never have been found had my foot not happened to drop within a few inches of it. Then away the bird flew, with a low, almost direct flight, without any sudden twists for some twenty yards, then down into the marsh. When flushed it disappeared from view into the marsh and was not seen again until within a few feet of the nest. Once, when spotted a couple of yards away, it covered that short distance a foot at a time, crouching down for a few seconds between each very short journey; then, still crouching, it covered the eggs and remained motionless.

The nest was found on June 12th, 1926, and it then contained four eggs. The last time I inspected it was on July 6th, when the eggs were cracking at their larger ends.

Eggs.—The eggs are extraordinarily large for the size of the bird, being but little smaller than those of the common snipe (Capella gallinago). They are, as a rule, more or less distinctly pyriform and are normally four in number. The ordinary types vary in ground color from "chamois" to "cream buff" in the buff types and "olive-lake" or "corn-olive" to "olive-buff" in the green types. As a rule, the markings are somewhat smaller and more uniformly distributed than in common snipes' eggs. They are in some shade of light or dark brown, such as "tawny," "russet-vinaceous," "chocolate," "liver," or "chestnut brown"; the underlying markings, which are numerous and conspicuous in some cases, are in various shades of "purple drab" or "drab-grey." The spiral smears, so frequently found in common snipes' eggs, seem to be absent from those of the jack snipe, and, though there are some cases of wide variation in coloring, a series will be found to be browner and less bold in markings than a corresponding number of the common species. The measurements of 146 eggs average 38.53 by 27.37 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 44.5 by 28.5, 40 by 30, 35 by 27 and 38 by 25.5 millimeters. Rey (1905) states that the shells are somewhat thinner and lighter than with the common snipe and gives the average weight as 660 grams.

Plumages.—The downy plumage is described by Dresser (1871) as follows, from a nestling obtained at Muonioniska:

Entire upper parts richly varied, deep rufous and black, dotted here and there with white; a buffy white streak passes from the forehead over the eye; below this is a dark-brown streak covering the lores to the eye; from the base of the lower mandible another white streak passes below the eye and one also from the chin (which is buffy white) along the side of the head to the nape; underparts dark-reddish brown, slightly varied with blackish brown; bill and legs much developed.

For descriptions of subsequent plumages and molts the reader is referred to "A Practical Handbook of British Birds," edited by H. F. Witherby (1920).

Food.—Probably consists mainly of worms, with a considerable mixture of insects and some vegetable matter (seeds, etc.). Naumann (1887) remarks that he has several times found grass seeds in stomachs and believes that vegetable matter is taken as well as insects and worms. Newstead records Coleoptera (3 cases), Mollusca (Tellina and Helix, 2 cases), vegetable matter (grass, etc.), sand, and pebbles. Cordeaux found fragments of fresh-water shells and a few bivalves (Pisidia), while Saxby met with plant fibers and mud.

Behavior and voice.—The jack snipe is an extremely silent bird, and to a great extent, solitary, outside the breeding season. The noises made during the nuptial flight have already been dealt with, but it is characteristic of the species that when flushed, unlike the common snipe, it nearly always rises in silence. Naumann, however, writes that on rare occasions, generally toward evening, a weak, high-pitched note may be uttered, like "Kitz" or "Kutz," which he compares to a bat's squeak. One may, however, put up twenty birds one after another without hearing anything, though very rarely a single "ahtch" is uttered, much more softly than the corresponding note of the common snipe. On being flushed it dashes off quickly with unsteady flight, but pitches again before rising to any height, and, except on migration or on its breeding ground, usually flies low.

Field marks.—Its solitary habits and small size are the best field characters, combined with the fact that it is not shy and usually rises at very short range, so that one gets a good view of it before it pitches again at no great distance, where it can be flushed again. The almost invariable absence of any note on rising is very characteristic.

DISTRIBUTION

Breeding range.—Scandinavian Lapland and Finland south to about latitude 64°. In Germany it is said to have bred in various localities from Schleswig Holstein to East Prussia, but there is no doubt that most of these records, if not all, are not, and can never be, satisfactorily authenticated. It does, however, breed in the Baltic Republics (Estonia and Latvia) and apparently in North Poland, while in Russia it breeds on the tundra south to the Governments of Perm, Kazan, Vologda, Jaroslav, Vladimir, Orel, Tula, and Tver. In Asia, though absent from the extreme north of Siberia, it is found in the Arctic Zone south to Tobolsk and north to the Boganida (lat. 70°), while eastward it ranges to the Kolyma delta.

Winter range.—While a few birds remain in favorable localities or mild weather at short distances south of their breeding quarters, the main body migrates through Europe south to the countries bordering the Mediterranean and its islands (Balearic Isles, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Sicily, Ionian Isles, Crete, Cyprus, etc.). In Africa it is met with in all the countries on the northern littoral from Morocco to Egypt; also up the Nile Valley to the Blue Nile (Lakes Nakuru and Naivasha), and sparingly to Kenya Colony. In Asia from West Palestine, South Iraq, Persia, Afghanistan, throughout India, Ceylon, Burma, China (scarce), Formosa, and Japan. In the Canaries it occurs only on passage in small numbers.

Spring migration.—In south Spain, end of February and early March; Corsica, February (late date March 27); Greece, February (late dates March 2 and 19); Italy, April and early May (latest date beginning of June); Cyprus, end of March and early April (late date April 16). In the British Isles the passage lasts from the end of March to the third week of May (late date June, North Uist); in Denmark, April; south Sweden from end of March to middle of April; in Hungary they leave about the end of March; and have been noted in Russia in the Caucasus, the Kirghis Steppes, and the Urals. In Asia they remain in Iraq to April 7; Sind, early April. Arrival noted on the Boganida June 8. In Africa, Morocco (February), Tunisia (February, March), Abyssinia (February), and Egypt (March).

Fall migration.—In the British Isles from mid September to end November (early dates, August 12, 1910, Norfolk; August 20, 1910, Essex; August 1, Norfolk). Heligoland (September and October); also met with in practically all European countries, reaching south Spain (November, end October, or early November). In Asia recorded from Asia Minor, Transjordania (October), arriving Sind (early October) and India (September-October).

Casual records.—Once recorded from the Faeroes (1910); also on Madeira (March 15, 1889); Andaman Isles (once), as well as on the Pribilof Isles.

Egg dates.—June 4 to 12 (2 records); 14 to 21 (8 records); 22 to 30 (2 records); July 1 to 14 (3 records); 15 to 28 (4 records); 29 to August 2 (2 records).

LIMNODROMUS GRISEUS GRISEUS (Gmelin) EASTERN DOWITCHER

HABITS

The dowitcher, or, as I should prefer to see it called, the red-breasted snipe, occurs as a species entirely across the American continent. The long-billed dowitcher, the western form, was originally described as a distinct, full species; it has since been reduced to the rank of a subspecies, because of very evident intergradation; and now some very good ornithologists are in doubt as to the propriety of recognizing the two varieties in nomenclature at all, because no distinctly different breeding ranges for the two forms have been established, and typical (so-called) eastern birds have never been found breeding anywhere. What few breeding birds have come from Alaska and northern Mackenzie all seem to be scolopaceus, but griseus may still be found breeding there when we have larger series. I have had considerable correspondence with Prof. William Rowan about the breeding dowitchers of Alberta, including interchange of specimens. He seems to think that the Alberta birds are constantly distinct from either griseus or scolopaceus and perhaps worthy of a name. It seems to me that they are strictly intermediate and should not be named. In a letter recently received from P. A. Taverner he seems inclined to recognize the Alberta bird as a "short-billed bird resembling the eastern most, but intermediate, and with spotting characters different from either."

On migrations, and in winter, both forms are found entirely across the continent. The best that can be said is that griseus is more common on the Atlantic and scolopaceus is more common on the Pacific coast. Dr. Louis B. Bishop, with whom I have discussed this question, is inclined to call one a mutant of the other; he has some 200 dowitchers in his collection, from all parts of the country, those from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts being about equally divided and the two forms being about equally represented. In analyzing his series, taking into account length of bill, length of wing and brightness of color, he finds that: of griseus, 86 per cent are from the Atlantic coast, 2 per cent from the interior, and 12 per cent from the Pacific coast; and of scolopaceus, 14 per cent are from the Atlantic coast, 30 per cent from the interior, and 56 per cent from the Pacific coast. While collecting near Pasadena, California, on April 25, 1923, he shot into a large flock of dowitchers and picked up nine birds, all but one of which were typical griseus, in bill, wing, and color.

Spring.—The last of the dowitchers which winter in Florida, or migrate through there, leave for the north during May, though a general northward movement has been going on during April. The earliest birds sometimes reach Massachusetts by May 1, but usually the main flight comes along about May 20 and lasts for about ten days. Audubon (1840) observed large numbers of this species flying eastward along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas during April. And Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that "these birds migrate to their breeding grounds in the far north between May 1 and 15, and when the tide is low in the afternoon and a light southerly wind prevails, flock after flock can be seen migrating in a northwesterly direction. I have yet to see these birds migrate along the coast line in the spring." This would seem to indicate an overland route from South Carolina, in addition to the Atlantic coast route referred to above. Professor Rowan writes to me that dowitchers are common on both migrations in Alberta, and says:

In a long series of spring and fall skins, there is every gradation from the supposed typical eastern form (griseus) to the so-called long-billed form (scolopaceus). Bill lengths and colors do not correspond as they are supposed to do. As far as this district is concerned, there is absolutely no evidence in support of the splitting of this species into two races. The only two really long-billed birds that have been taken, were deliberately collected from a flock as their bills were so obviously longer than those of their companions even in life. Intermediate lengths, forming a nicely graded series, have been secured. The colors and markings of the spring birds are infinite in variety, and do not correspond to the bill lengths that should go with them.

There is a northward migration through the interior, in which this form is undoubtedly represented, but to what extent it is hard to tell, as it is impossible to separate all the records. Both forms are recorded on migrations in California and British Columbia.

Courtship.—Richard C. Harlow has sent me some brief notes on the courtship of this species, as seen on its breeding grounds in Alberta. There were at least eight pairs of birds in the vicinity and they kept up their courtships until he left on June 9. The males apparently outnumber the females, for at least two females were seen surrounded by little groups of three or four males, frequently singing and displaying. "The male frequently strutted like a woodcock and displayed, and several times arose and gave his flight song, a clear, liquid, musical, contralto gurgle." Professor Rowan thinks that both sexes indulge in this song.

Nesting.—The breeding range of the eastern dowitcher is imperfectly known or not known at all, unless we include the birds which breed in Alberta under this form, where in my opinion they belong. Prof. Wells W. Cooke (1912) writes:

The nest and eggs of the dowitcher are not yet known to science, nor has the species been seen in summer at any place where it was probably breeding. The dowitcher is a common migrant on the coasts of New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and in fall is sometimes very abundant. Farther north its numbers decrease: New Hampshire, tolerably common in fall, no spring records; Maine, tolerably common spring and fall; Quebec, rare migrant; New Brunswick, no records; Nova Scotia, once (Sharpe); Prince Edward Island, once; Ungava, a few in August, 1860, at Henley Harbor (Coues), one June 10, 1883, at Fort Chimo (Turner). North of Ungava, the only record is that of a single accidental occurrence at Fiskenaes, Greenland (Reinhardt). Evidently the dowitcher does not breed in any numbers, on the eastern coast of Ungava. The probability that it does not breed there at all is strengthened by the fact that several first-class observers, who during the fall migration were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, did not see any of the birds. It undoubtedly does not go into northeastern Keewatin and the islands of the Province of Franklin, for it is not reported by the various expeditions that have traveled and wintered in those districts, while the specimens taken on the west coast of Hudson Bay belong to the form called scolopaceus. The only district left for the breeding ground is the interior of Ungava and the eastern shore of Hudson Bay.

W. E. Clyde Todd, who has probably done more field work than anyone else on the east coast of Hudson Bay, writes to me:

Replying to your query about the dowitcher, it is my opinion that this species does not breed in the interior of northern Ungava, but I admit I have nothing to prove it one way or the other. It seems to me, though, that if it did breed there, it would be far more common than it is at the southern end of James Bay in migration, instead of being one of the rarer kinds. I never saw it anywhere north of this part, but then I have not been in northern Ungava in the breeding season.

Turner's record of a single bird at Fort Chimo, on June 10, 1883, seems to be the only peg on which to hang the Ungava theory; and this may have been a straggler. The Alberta birds are somewhat intermediate; and probably typical griseus, if there is any such thing, will be found breeding somewhere in the muskeg regions of central Canada between Alberta and Hudson Bay.

There are several sets of dowitcher's eggs in collections, from this general region, collected in 1903 and 1906, which have been looked upon with some suspicion; one came from Hayes River Flat, 25 miles north of 55°, one from just south of Little Slave Lake, and three from Little Red Deer River, Alberta. Now that the dowitcher has been definitely shown to breed in Alberta, these records look authentic.

To A. D. Henderson and his guests is due all the credit for recent positive evidence. On June 18, 1924, he found a pair of dowitchers with two young, only a day or two old, "near a small lake in a muskeg about 17 miles northeast of Fort Assiniboine." The following season he found dowitchers again at three different places in the same region, "probably a dozen pairs in all"; and on June 2, about 35 miles northeast of Fort Assiniboine, he took his first set of three fresh eggs. The nest was "in a muskeg in open growth of small tamarac trees about 125 yards from a lake"; he describes it as "a hollow in a lump of moss, scantily lined with a few tamarac twigs, leaves, and fine dry grass, at the root of a small dead alder about 12 inches high"; it measured 1³/4 inches deep and 4 inches across; the top was 4 inches above standing water.

Mr. Harlow, who was with Mr. Henderson the next year, 1926, took two sets of four eggs each. One "nest was in an extensive tundralike muskeg, very quaking and wet, and the nest was in a small bunch of dwarf birch, not over 12 inches high, on the end of a little ridge of moss and completely surrounded on three sides by water." The male was seen "singing" near the nest. He joined the female after she had fluttered off the nest and the pair were seen feeding together; several times they stood erect and rubbed their bills together. After the eggs were taken a set of phalarope's eggs was placed in the nest; the dowitcher returned took one look at the eggs and then flew away and was never seen near the nest again.

Eggs.—One of Mr. Henderson's sets was apparently complete with three eggs, but four is the usual number. There is probably no constant difference between the eggs of this and its long-billed relative. One of Mr. Harlow's sets he describes as "light olive-green, rather lightly marked with pin points, spots, flecks, and a few blotches of dark umber and dark brown." The other set, he says, is slightly darker olive-green and is "much more heavily spotted and blotched with small and large spots of umber and brown and under shell markings of a lighter color." The measurements of 18 Alberta eggs average 40.8 by 29.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 44 by 29.5, 41 by 30.3, 38.2 by 28.5, and 38.7 by 27.7 millimeters.

Plumages.—The plumages and molts, which are the same in both forms, are fully described under the long-billed dowitcher.

Food.—The favorite feeding grounds of the dowitchers are the mud flats and sand flats in sheltered bays and estuaries, or the borders of shallow ponds on the marshes, where they associate freely with small plovers and sandpipers. Although not inclined to move about actively, their feeding motions are very rapid, as they probe in the mud or sand with quick, perpendicular strokes of their long bills, driving them in their full length again and again in rapid succession; while feeding in shallow water the whole head is frequently immersed and sometimes several strokes are made with the head under water. Dr. E. R. P. Janvrin writes to me:

Mr. J. T. Nichols and I watched three individuals feeding on the salt meadows late in the afternoon, continuing our observations until it was so dark that we could hardly distinguish the birds any longer; at which time the birds were still feeding. The question arose whether dowitchers might not be nocturnal in their feeding habits, as is the case with the woodcock and Wilson's snipe, since the sense of sight is certainly not essential to their probing for food.

Various observers have noted among the food items of the dowitcher grasshoppers, beetles, flies, maggots, marine worms, oyster worms, leeches, water bugs, fish eggs, small mollusks, seeds of aquatic plants, and the roots of eelgrass.

Behavior.—Dowitchers are the gentlest and most unsuspicious of shore birds, which has made them easy prey for the avaricious gunner. Their flight is swift and steady, often protracted and sometimes at a great elevation, when looking for feeding places. They usually fly in compact flocks by themselves, sometimes performing interesting evolutions high in the air. They often fly, however, in flocks with other small waders, but the dowitchers are generally bunched together in the flock; I once shot four dowitchers out of a mixed flock without hitting any of the smaller birds. When a flock of dowitchers alights the birds are closely bunched, but they soon scatter out and begin to feed. If a flock is shot into, the sympathetic and confiding birds return again and again to their fallen companions until only a pitiful remnant is left to finally escape. Such slaughter of the innocents well-nigh exterminated this gentle species; but, now that it is protected, it is beginning to increase again.

Although all shore birds can swim, the dowitcher seems to be especially adept at it. Doctor Coues (1874) writes:

Being partly web-footed, this snipe swims tolerably well for a little distance in an emergency, as when it may get for a moment beyond its depth in wading about, or when it may fall, broken-winged, on the water. On such an occasion as this last, I have seen one swim bravely for 20 or 30 yards, with a curious bobbing motion of the head and corresponding jerking of the tail, to a hiding place in the rank grass across the pool. When thus hidden they keep perfectly still, and may be picked up without resistance, except a weak flutter, and perhaps a low, pleading cry for pity on their pain and helplessness. When feeding at their ease, in consciousness of peace and security, few birds are of more pleasing appearance. Their movements are graceful and their attitudes often beautifully statuesque.

W. E. D. Scott (1881) says:

A curious habit of this species was noted at the mouth of the Withlacoochee, where I saw the birds alight in very deep water and swim about for considerable time. This occurred in every instance after a flock had been fired at, and I thought at first that the birds had been wounded, but after observing the occurrence a number of times and on watching the birds while in the water I concluded that such was not the case. Those I noted were generally solitary individuals, but twice I saw three, and once four, alight in the water, swim lightly and gracefully about, and, when disturbed, rise easily and fly away.

Voice.—John T. Nichols has sent me the following notes on the characteristic calls of this species.

The flight note of the dowitcher resembles that of the lesser yellow-legs but is recognizably different, less loud and more hurried, usually suggesting the bird's name: dowitch, or dowitcher, sometimes of a single syllable. This call is subject to considerable variation. When used as a regular flight or recognition note I believe it is most frequently two-syllabled, clear and full. When the call becomes more abrupt and emphatic and the last syllable is multiplied it seems to indicate that the bird is excited rather than to have other especial significance; thus, dowicheche.

This note appears to be identical in the eastern dowitcher and the long-billed race which I have studied in Florida. Other minor calls of the dowitcher are single, unloud, low-pitched chups with which a flock manoeuvred about decoys (Long Island, August) resembling an analogous yellowleg note; a low rattle when dropping down to alight (Long Island, May); a mellow, ploverlike cluee, suggesting a call of single lesser yellow-legs when loath to leave a feeding ground, calling to other more restless individuals of their kind. This was heard from a single dowitcher on the ground when a flock of lesser yellow-legs was flushed a little way off. When these departed it took wing with more usual dowitcher calls and followed after (Long Island, July). I have on record also a startled chee from an extra tame long-billed dowitcher in Florida, flushed by being almost struck by something thrown at it.

While observing the shore bird migration on the coast of New Jersey, during the last week of May, with Dr. Harry C. Oberholser, we frequently heard the pretty and vivacious flight song of the dowitcher. It was a sibilant, whistling song, rather loud and with a staccato effect. Doctor Oberholser, whose ears are better than mine now are, wrote down his impressions of it for me. Three short notes were heard separately, tíliloo, tídilee and tíchilee, accented on the first syllable; the last two were commonest. The complete song sounded like tídilee-tí-tscha-tscha-tscha or tíchilee-tí-tsocha-tscha-tscha, with numerous variations and combinations of the above notes, a very striking song. This is somewhat similar in form to the song of the long-billed dowitcher heard on its breeding grounds and described by Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887); it is probably a courtship song.

Field marks.—The dowitcher when standing is a fat, chunky bird, with short greenish legs and a very long bill, with which it probes perpendicularly. In flight it also appears stout and usually carries its long bill pointed slightly downward; in adult plumage it appears very dark colored. It has none of the slender appearance of the yellow-legs and its flight is steadier. When seen flying away from the observer the grayish white central band on its back is conspicuous, as are the black and white, barred tail feathers.

Fall.—The dowitcher is one of the earliest of the fall migrants; probably the first arrivals are birds that, for one reason or another, have failed to raise broods of young, for the time elapsing between the late-spring migration and the early-fall flight is not sufficient for successful breeding. The first adults arrive on Cape Cod early in July; my earliest date is July 4. Adults are common all through July, and I have seen them as late as August 16. The young birds come along later, from August 8 to September 25. While with us they frequent the mud flats and edges of muddy ponds or bays in the marshes; they are seldom seen on the sandy beaches or far out on the sand flats. They associate freely with the smaller sandpipers, least, and semipalmated, or with the semipalmated plover and turnstones. Often in the great flocks of these small sandpipers a number of dowitchers may be easily recognized by their much larger size and very dark appearance, also by their much longer bills. They are then often concentrated in compact groups or strung out in a long line, close to the edge of the water, probing in the soft mud with quick strokes of their long bills. They are easily approached at such times, as they are almost as tame and unsuspicious as the little peep. When the flats are covered at high tide these birds resort to the salt marshes or meadows, where they rest and sleep; in such places they often lie very close and flush singly, much after the manner of Wilson snipe.

Game.—Dowitchers, or "brown backs," as they are called on Cape Cod, have been popular game birds, and immense numbers have been shot in past years. Audubon (1840) says that "it is not at all uncommon to shoot 20 or 30 of them at once. I have been present when 127 were killed by discharging three barrels, and have heard of many dozens having been procured at a shot." Edward Sturtevant says that a market hunter near Newport, Rhode Island, shot 1,058 dowitchers during the years from 1867 to 1874. Their popularity and their tameness nearly caused the extermination of the species. Mr. John C. Cahoon (1888) wrote then:

They have decreased very fast during the last five years, and where we saw a flock of several dozens then we now see them singly or in bunches not exceeding 10 or 12. They are the least shy of any of the shore birds, and it is due to this fact that they have decreased so fast. They are easily decoyed, and although they fly swiftly their motion is steady and they keep closely together. They alight in a compact bunch, and the gunner usually shoots into them before they scatter out. Many are killed by a single discharge, and those that remain spring up with a sharp whistle and fly a short distance away, when hearing what they think to be the call of a deserted comrade they wheel about and come skimming bravely back to the murderous spot where they were first shot at. Again they are shot at, and again the remaining half dozen are loath to leave their dead and dying companions, and return to share their fate. One or two may escape, and as they drop silently down on some lonely sand spit, sad relics of their departed companions, what sorrowful thoughts must be theirs as they wait for their comrades that will never come.

Since that time the species has been saved by removing it from the game-bird list, and it has increased considerably until now it is again a fairly common bird. When flying in flocks it is too easily killed to offer the sportsman much of a thrill, but when flushed singly on the meadows it has more of a sporting chance for its life.

DISTRIBUTION

Range.—Chiefly eastern North America, islands of the Caribbean Sea and central South America; casual in Greenland, Alaska, the British Isles, and France.

Breeding range.—The dowitchers which have been found breeding in Alberta, from Little Red Deer River to Fort Assiniboine, are intermediate between griseus and scolopaceus, but nearer the former. Eggs have also been taken at Hayes River Flat and just south of Little Slave Lake, which are probably of this form. The breeding range of typical griseus probably lies between these points and the west side of Hudson Bay and perhaps extends north to the Arctic coast.

Winter range.—North to Louisiana (State game preserve, and Marsh Island) and probably rarely to North Carolina (Fort Macon). East to rarely North Carolina (Fort Macon); South Carolina (near Charleston, and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah and Blackbeard Island); Florida (Amelia Island, Orange Hammock, and Bassenger); Bahama Islands (Great Inagua); Jamaica; Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe, Barbadoes and Grenada); Trinidad; and Brazil (Para and Bahia). South to Brazil (Bahia); and northern Peru (Tumbez). West to northern Peru (Tumbez); Colombia (Medellin); Cuba (Isle of Pines); western Florida (Key West, Fort Myers, Sarasota Bay, Tarpon Springs, and Pensacola); Louisiana (Marsh Island); and southern California.

Spring migration.—Early dates of spring arrival are: Virginia, Hog Island, April 15, Norfolk, April 17, and Locustville, April 25; New Jersey, Long Beach, May 6, New Brunswick, May 16; New York, Shinnecock Bay Light, May 15, and Long Island, April 19; Connecticut, Norwalk, May 15; Rhode Island, Newport, May 20; Massachusetts, Monomoy Island, May 1; Quebec, Green Island, May 25; Quebec, May 28, and Fort Chimo, June 10; and New Brunswick, Grand Manan, June 13.

Late dates of spring departure are: New Jersey, Long Beach, May 20, Cape May, May 20, New Brunswick, May 23, and Elizabeth, May 31; New York, New York City, May 30, Long Island, June 12, and Long Beach, June 23.

Fall migration.—Early dates of fall arrival are: Massachusetts, Edgartown, July 4, Dennis, July 13, Monomoy Island, July 13, Marthas Vineyard, July 24, and Harvard, July 26; Rhode Island, Newport, July 10; Connecticut, Meriden, July 23; New York, Long Island, June 29, and East Hampton, July 1; New Jersey, Long Beach, July 6, and Cape May, July 10; Virginia, Cobb Island, June 19, and Bone Island, July 14; Georgia, Savannah, September 23; and Mississippi, Bay St. Louis, August 24. A few individuals may be found throughout the summer on the coast of Florida and other Southern States, but they are not known to breed in these regions.

Late dates of fall departure are: New Brunswick, Tabusintoc, October 23; Quebec, Labrador, August 23, and Montreal, September 27; Maine, Portland, August 13; Massachusetts, Harvard, August 25, Edgartown, September 4, and Cape Cod, October 23; Rhode Island, Newport, October 20; New York, Rochester, September 13, Orient, September 21, New York City, October 31, and Great West Bay Light, November 2; New Jersey, Long Beach, October 1; and Virginia, Hog Island, November 12.

Casual records.—The dowitcher has many times been taken outside of what appears to be its normal range, in fact there are so many records for the interior that it seems certain individuals regularly follow the flyway of the Mississippi Valley.

Among these records are Bermuda, Harris Bay, September 26, 1847, and August 21, 1848, Pearl Island, September 10, 1874, and Peniston Pond, September 17, 1875; District of Columbia, Washington, September 1879; Pennsylvania, Erie, July 19, 1892, and Carlisle, August 12, 1844, and September 12, 1844; Tennessee, Reelfoot Lake, November 27, 1875; Illinois, Mount Carmel, October 9, 1875, Calumet, October, 1881, South Chicago, May 6, 1893, and Grand Crossing, July 19, 1893; Indiana, Liverpool, September 9, 1892; Ohio, Pelee Island, August 10, 1924, and September 3, 1910, and Columbus, October 16, 1921; Michigan, Wayne County, July 16, 1906, August 26, 1905, and October 7, 1890; Ingham County, August 26, 1897, and East Lansing, August 14, 1908; Ontario, Toronto, August 1, 1894, August 24, 1891, and September 15, 1889, and Ottawa, May 9, 1890; Iowa, Burlington, August 6, 1893, and August 16, 1893, and Marshalltown, August 10, 1914; Wisconsin, Lake Koshkonong, August, 1886; Texas, Corpus Christi, May 18, 1886, San Patricio County, June 11, 1887, Fort Clarke, April 26, 1882, Padre Island, August 26 and 27, 1891, Aransas Bay, August 14, 1905, and Rockport, February 3, 1909; Idaho, St. Joseph Marshes, September 12, 1895 or 1896; Mackenzie, Fort Rae, June 9, 1893; Greenland, Fiskenaesset in 1854; Ungava, Fort Chimo, June 10, 1883; and Alaska, Nushagak, September 24, 1882, and June 9, 1884.

There also are 15 records of its occurrence in the British Isles; one each near Havre, and Picardy, France, and northeastern Siberia, near Jakutsk.

Egg dates.—Alberta: 9 records, June 1 to 16.

LIMNODROMUS GRISEUS SCOLOPACEUS (Say) LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER

HABITS

This is supposed to be a western form of the species, characterized by an average larger size, a decidedly longer bill, and more uniformly rufous under parts in the adult spring plumage. It was first described and long regarded as a distinct species, but later developments have shown intergradation and it has been reduced to sub-specific rank. The above characters seem to hold good in all specimens collected on their breeding grounds in Alaska and northwestern Mackenzie; and these characters are distinctive and well marked. But in immature and winter plumages the form can be recognized only by size; and, as the measurements of the two forms overlap and intergrade, only the extremes can be positively named. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the migration and winter ranges of the two forms overlap. This form, scolopaceus, is by no means rare on the Atlantic coast, and griseus occurs regularly on the Pacific coast; intermediates are most abundant in the central valleys, but occur on both coasts.

Spring.—The long-billed dowitcher is a rather early spring migrant; the migration starts in March; the main flight through the United States is in April; and it reaches its northern breeding grounds in May. Dr. E. W. Nelson (1887) says of its arrival in northern Alaska:

In spring, the middle of May, as the snow disappears, and the first pale leaves of grass begin to thrust their spear-points through the dead vegetable mat on the ground, or as early as the 10th on some seasons, this peculiar snipe returns to its summer home. At the Yukon mouth I found them on May 12, when they were already engaged in love-making, though the ground was still, to a great extent, covered with snow, and only here and there appeared a thawed place where they could feed. Toward the end of this month they are plentiful, and their curious habits and loud notes make them among the most conspicuous denizens of the marshes.

Courtship.—Doctor Nelson (1887) writes:

These are very demonstrative birds in their love-making, and the last of May and first of June their loud cries are heard everywhere about their haunts, especially in morning and evening. Two or three males start in pursuit of a female and away they go twisting and turning, here and there, over marsh and stream, with marvelous swiftness and dexterity. At short intervals a male checks his flight for a moment to utter a strident pe-et u weet; wee-too, wee-too; then on he goes full tilt again. After they have mated, or when a solitary male pays his devotions, they rise 15 or 20 yards from the ground, where, hovering upon quivering wings, the bird pours forth a lisping but energetic and frequently musical song, which can be very imperfectly expressed by the syllables peet-peet; pee-ter-wee-too; wee-too; pee-ter-wee-too; pee-ter-wee-too; wee-too; wee-too. This is the complete song but frequently only fragments are sung, as when the bird is in pursuit of the female.

Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes:

The male long-billed dowitcher pours forth his wild musical song as he hovers in the air with raised vibrating wings, perhaps 50 feet above the object of his rapturous outburst. The female, from her retreat on the cozy border of a lowland pool, modestly watches the ardent lover as he renders his melodious homage. In common with many others of the shore dwellers, the most conspicuous courting action is the pursuit race by a number of males for their desired, but elusive, lady love. It is then that one marvels at the speed and agility displayed by apparently awkward birds, as they twist and dodge in their aerial wooing. Even during his swift flight the suitor tries, but with poor success, to continue his musical efforts for the benefit of his larger paramour.

Nesting.—MacFarlane's notes record brief descriptions of some half a dozen nests found in the Anderson River region and on the borders of the wooded country. These were all located on marshy ground near a swamp or small lake. One is described as "a mere depression in the midst of a tuft or decayed grass, lined with a few withered leaves." A set collected for me by F. S. Hersey, near St. Michael, Alaska, June 9, 1914, was taken from a hollow in the moss between two clumps of grass on the tundra; the female was flushed and shot. Mr. Brandt says in his notes: