WILSON'S SNIPE. 97 



call, rapidly repeated as it flies over the water. After 

 gaining headway it sails for some distance, when its wide- 

 stretched wini^s show a white bar or hand. 



The S^^otted Sandpiper arrives from tlie South late 

 in April and remains until October. It nests in the lat- 

 ter half of ]\Iay, laying four pear-shaped, eggs, in color 

 white or bulf, thickly spotted and speckled with choco- 

 late, chiefly at the larger end. The young, like those of 

 all Snipe, are born with a covering of downy feathers, 

 and can run as soon as dry. The egg is, therefore, large 

 in proportion to the size of the bird, and measures 1-25 by 

 •95 inches. (See Fig. 24:a.) 



Unlike the two preceding birds, Wilson's or the 

 English Snipe is not a summer resident in the Middle 

 Wilson's Snipe, States, but as a rule nests from north- 

 Gaiiinayo ddicata. em Kew England northward, though 

 Plate IX. there are records of its breeding as 



far south as Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It migrates 

 northward in March and April, and the return journey 

 occurs during September and October. It is not a true 

 shore l)ird, but frequents fresh-water marshes and mead- 

 ows, and in rainy April weather, when the lowlands be- 

 come more or less flooded, it may be found in places where 

 few persons would think of looking for Snipe. 



Like the AYoodcock, Wilson's Snipe probes the mud 

 for food, and when on the ground among the grasses its 

 colors and pattern of coloration so closely resemble its 

 surroundings that it is almost invisible. 



When flushed, it utters a startled scaip^ and darts 

 quickly into the air, flying at first in so erratic a manner 

 that it has become famous among sportsmen as a diffi- 

 cult mark. 



Like the IS'ighthawk, Wilson's Snipe sometimes dives 

 earthward from high in the air, making as he falls a 

 Bound which Minot compares to that produced by throw- 



