SCOLOPACID^ — THE SNIPE FAMILY — MACRORHAMPHUS. 199 



and aliglit among the dead bodies of tlieir companions, only to sliare their fate. In 

 dry seasons the scattered flocks feed along the muddy flats, wading in the shoal- 

 water, although seldom to any great depth. Even in these exposed situations but 

 little address is required to approach the bird within shooting distance. 



This Snipe is capable of a rapid and protracted flight, which at times is performed 

 at a great elevation. During the dry season, when in search of feeding-grounds, it 

 flies high, and will not be easily decoyed. It is very abundant at Egg Harbor, N. J., 

 where it is knoAvn as the Brown Snipe, and also as the Quail Snipe, from its peculiar 

 Quail-like whistle. 



In the Atlantic States, according to Lewis (" American Sportsman/' p. 241), this 

 Snipe seems to confine itself to the salt-marshes, and there congregates in immense 

 flocks. That author gives the time of its arrival in New Jersey as the first week in 

 May, and that of its return as the middle of July, when it remains until the com- 

 mencement of cold weather. These birds fly in large flocks, collect in thick masses 

 upon the points to feed, and will suffer a boat to approach near enough to give them 

 a raking fire. They are less wary than most of the shore-birds, and when feeding in 

 company with other species are always the last to take the alarm. 



By different explorers this species has been found breeding at various points in 

 the Arctic Region ; as, for instance, Eort Yukon, Big Island, Fort Eae, Pastolik, etc. 

 Mr. E. Adams met with it near Michaelaski, Alaska (" Ibis," 1878), where it arrived 

 on the 20th of May, and soon spread over the marshes, singly or in pairs ; but the 

 greater number of them frequented the salt-marsh, where they fed about the mud in 

 company with flocks of Actodvomas minutilla and Pelidna americaiia, the only birds 

 with which they were seen to associate. 



Mr. MacFarlane found this species breeding in the Arctic Region, in the vicinity 

 of Fort Anderson. The nests were taken between the 21st of June and the 1st of 

 July, the usual number of eggs in a nest appearing to be four. The nests were 

 placed on the marshy borders of small lakes, and were composed of a few decayed 

 leaves placed in a depression in the mossy ground. In one instance the female was 

 sitting on the nest, and when approached, ascended in the air, uttering shrill and 

 long-continued notes of alarm and annoyance. She was then, after a few minutes, 

 seen to descend in a perpendicular manner to her nest. 



The eggs of this species are of a decidedly pyriform shape, and vary considerably 

 in size — namely, from 1.55 to 1.75 inches in length, and from 1.08 to 1.20 in breadth. 

 In some examples the ground is drab, with blended shadings of rufous and oliva- 

 ceous ; in others, the ground is a fawn-colored drab, more slightly olivaceous. The 

 markings are uniformly sepia in color, somewhat intensified about the larger end, 

 and of less size and more scattered at the smaller end. 



It is not possible to give an exact account of the distinctive habits of the form 

 called " scolojjaceus,^^ if it really possesses any that are peculiar to it or distinguish- 

 able from those of the preceding. ISTor can it be stated with certainty how far, if 

 at all, its distribution differs from that of the more common Red-breasted Snipe. 

 In the dress of the seolopaceus this form has been met with both on the Atlantic and 

 on the Pacific coast. It is found in the interior ; and, in the winter, has also 

 been met with in Central America. Wiirdemann secured examples in Florida, and 

 Professor Kumlien has procured birds of this form both in the spring and in the fall, 

 near Lake Koskonoug. Lieutenant Warren obtained a single individual on the Mis- 

 souri River, near Oinaha, Nebraska. It has been found very common among the 

 lagoons on the Pacific coast, near San Pedro, in California (" Ibis," 1866, p. 27). It was 

 described as not apparently ever going down to the salt-flats, its habits being given 



