198 PR.ECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



This species is found in suitable places throughout the interior of the continent, 

 both in the spring and fall migrations. It is more or less common at Lake Kosko- 

 nong, Wisconsin, where, about Aug. 15, 1873, it was found in unusually large num- 

 bers by Mr. Kumlien. It is included by Mr. H. W. Parker in Ins list of the birds 

 occurring near Grinnell, la. Mr. J. A. Allen found it <i[uite common in Great Salt 

 Lake Valley after the 25th of September. 



Eichardson speaks of it as a species well known throughout the Fur Country, 

 having an extensive breeding-range from the borders of Lake Superior to the Arctic 

 Sea. Individuals killed on the Saskatchewan Y^l^ins had their crops filled with 

 leeches and fragments of Coleoptera. Keinhardt includes it among the birds of 

 Greenland, a single specimen having been taken at Fiskernaes in 1854. 



Mr. Dresser noted the arrival of this Snipe from the north at a lagoon near Mata- 

 moras, as early as June 29, 1863. From that time onward it continued to arrive, 

 some migrating farther south, but a considerable number remaining in the neighbor- 

 hood. He obtained them in both the red and the gray plumage, and they were very 

 numerous both in July and August. They moved in flocks of from ten to thirty, and 

 seemed to be more nearly related to the Sandpiper than to the Snipe in their habits. • 

 He invariably found them on the shores of the lagoons, and often in company with 

 the Sandpipers, especially the Stilt Sandpipers ; but never in the same localities with 

 Wilson's Snipe. 



We are informed by Mr. Boardman that this species probably breeds in the neigh- 

 borhood of Calais, where it is occasionally seen throughout the summer. In the 

 winter he has found it very numerous in Florida, where it goes in large flocks, and 

 where he once killed thirty at a single shot. 



According to Mr. Moore's observations, some of these birds are found in Florida 

 also, throughout the summer, though none of these breed there. Scattered individ- 

 uals of this species were seen by him on the Sarasota Bay during every month of the 

 year ; but those that are thus resident do not assume the summer plumage. Others 

 were noticed there, both when leaving in the spring and arriving in autumn, ten of 

 the latter being seen as early as July 10 in very fine summer plumage. Those that 

 remain throughout the year do not appear at all like these in beauty of coloring, 

 only exhibiting on the wing-coverts and upper parts, here and there, a slight touch of 

 rufous. 



This bird has, in a number of instances, been taken in Europe, especially in Great 

 Britain, where six or more specimens have been singly secured. One captured in 

 Sweden was described and figured by Nilsson as a new species. On Long Island 

 Giraud states that this Snipe is known to the hunters by the old provincial name of 

 Dowitcher. It reaches the shores of that island about the close of April, and there 

 resorts to the mud-flats and shoals. At high-tide it retires to the boggy meadows, 

 where it probes the soft ground for worms. The stay of this bird in the spring is 

 short ; but about the middle of July it returns with its young, and remains until the 

 end of September. It has a very peculiar whistling note, and one that is easily imi- 

 tated by hunters, so as to deceive and attract the bird, which is noted for its unsus- 

 picious character. This Snipe is fond of resorting to the freshwater jionds which 

 stand on the low parts of the meadows during the wet season, and such situations 

 are favorable for its capture. Concealed in the rank grass which grows on the salt 

 meadows, the hunter, when he hears the notes of a passing flock, utters a shrill 

 whistle in imitation of their peculiar cry, this being pretty sure to attract the 

 birds. Flying close together and hovering over the flock of decoys, they are easily 

 shot ; and it not unfrequently happens that those Avhich escape the first fire return 



