April 1963. The two study areas included salt marsh and upland and 

 lowland dairy pastures, the main habitat types used by snipe in this 

 large wintering area. Snipe arrived during the first week of October, 

 and numbers increased to a yearly maximum in mid-November, representing 

 fall migration. Shortly thereafter numbers declined considerably and 

 then increased to one or more secondary peaks in December or later. 

 During the winter, snipe occurrence in the study areas was variable. 

 No well-defined increase in the population occurred during the period 

 of spring migration. After March, numbers declined until the last 

 snipe were seen in mid-April. Terrestrial insects (mostly beetles), 

 seeds, crustaceans, and land snails were the most important food items. 

 Food habit evaluation was complicated because the animal material was 

 finely ground and there was a large amount of unrecognizable plant 

 fibers which the snipe may have picked up incidentally while probing for 

 food animals. Most feeding occurred in upland areas where foods were 

 abundant. Aquatic and semi-aquatic foods were much less important 

 than was indicated in previous studies. Lowland pastures and salt 

 marsh islands were little used as feeding areas, although potential 

 food was abundant. Salt marsh islands were much used for loafing and 

 preening. Both pastures and salt marshes provided closely cropped 

 vegetation, a condition favorable to use by snipe. (A. A.) 



Keywords: snipe, food habits, habitat use, California 



V-B-44 



Whitehead, CO., Jr. 1962. Foods and feeding habits of the common snipe 

 ( Capella gallinago delicata ) in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, with 

 ecological notes and a discussion of methods of sexing and aging. 

 M.S. Thesis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. 200 pp. 



Analysis of gizzard contents revealed that the diet of snipe consists 

 of both plants and animals. The most important food items were plant 

 debris, beetles, fly larvae, snails, sawgrass, sesbania, and buckbrush. 

 (A. A. , modified) 



Keywords: common snipe, food habits, Louisiana 



V-B-45 



Meanly, B., and J.S. Webb. 1963. Nesting ecology and reproductive rate 



of the red-winged blackbird in tidal marshes of the upper Chesapeake 



Bay region. Chesapeake Science 4:90-100. 



The nesting ecology and reproductive rate of the polygynous red- 

 winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus , were studied in the tidal 

 marshes of Maryland during the period of 1958 through 1961. Sixteen 



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