338 PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL.E. 



raised in that immediate vicinity ; and it was a particularly noticeable fact that 

 there were few or no old birds to be seen. In one flock of two hundred or more 

 he observed only a single old liird. He conjectured at the time that the parents 

 might be engaged in raising a second brood ; but none were seen at any later period 

 in that season. Mr. Kumlien has met with this species every year for more than 

 thirty years. His attention was lirst called to it by the peculiar manner in Avhich it 

 carries its neck, which bulges out and presents a singular appearance, during the 

 breeding-season, or about the last of May. At this time the birds were fighting, run- 

 ning against one another, and uttering their peculiar grunting notes. They arrive 

 in Wisconsin from the 4th to the middle of May, and leave early in the fall, none 

 having been noticed after the first frost. Those that come to the lake in spring do 

 not all stay. They do not arrive in flocks, like the Trbuja; but are more scattered, 

 and select by preference certain places in which they remain. He has never met 

 with them at any great distance from the lake, and has every evidence, except actually 

 finding their nests, that they breed in the marshes not far from it. It is not shy. 

 Before pairing, this bird keeps in small companies, associating with small Trlngm, 

 Kildeer, etc. He has never noticed it swimming, except wlien wounded, and then it 

 swims like a Duck, nodding its head the while. He has never known it to dive, but 

 it often wades up to its belly in the shallow water. Its note — particularly during 

 the breeding-season — is a singular low grunting, which is not easily described. In 

 flying it lifts its wings higher than the Spotted Sandpiper and some of the small 

 TringcB. In the spring of 1873 it was not more numerous than usual, but from the 

 last of June to the last of August it was in unusual numbers, nearly all of them 

 young. 



Mr. George (). Welch, of Lynn, Mass., informs me that he has occasionally met 

 with single birds of this species, but regards this as something very unusual. In 

 May, 1874, he procured a fine specimen — a male — in ISTahant. It was in its full 

 summer dress, and his attention was called to it by its very singular proceedings. 

 The bird was on the ground at the edge of a small brackish pool, every now and 

 then s})ringing up into the air, and — as was afterward ascertained — catching small 

 dipterous insects. This it did as dexterously and as rapidly as the most expert 

 Fly-catcher. Mr. Batty writes me that it is seen on Long Island occasionally, but 

 that it is very rare there, as well as in Northern jSTew Jersey, where it is called the 

 "Xeedle-bill Snipe." 



Mr. Audubon, in his account of this species, claims to have met with it along the 

 whole eastern coast from Boston to New Jersey ; but this probably was a mistake. 

 It is certainly quite a rare bird in that region. Mr. Audubon also states that he saw 

 it in Kentucky, as well as in other parts of the United States. In June, 1829, he 

 received a pair which had just lieen killed by the fishermen with whom he Avas stay- 

 ing. These had acted as if nesting, and their appearance seemed also to indicate 

 this ; but their nest could not be found. About the same period his son procured two 

 specimens killed on the rocks at the Eapids of the Ohio below Louisville. Late in 

 the summer of 1824 three were obtained near Buffalo Creek on Lake Erie ; Edward 

 Harris also procured one near JSTew York, and John Bethune one near Boston. The 

 birds obtained near Lake Erie were feeding around the borders and in the shallows 

 of a pond of small extent. When first seen they Avere mistaken for Yellowshanks, 

 so much did their movements resemble those of that species. They waded in the 

 water up to their bodies, picking for food right and left, and performing all their 

 miovements with vivacity and elegance. They kept closely together, and occasion- 

 ally raised their wings for a fcAv moments, as if apprehensive of getting into too 



