THE WILSON SNIPE. 



645 



"SNOWY" is perhaps a rather strung term to apply to a bird whose 

 upperparts are grayish brown (the color of wet sand), and which boasts 

 emphatic dabs and patches of black besides: but the pure white of the under- 

 parts and face is more extensive than in the case of an\- dther i)lover. More- 

 over, by a sort of poetic license, the mind associates this nimble patterer with 

 the snowy crests of the waves, from whose retreating footsteps the bird 

 manages to snatch a fat li\-ing. 



These Plovers appear in small flocks during migrations, and in the nesting 

 season a suitable stretch of beach may prove equally attractive to half a dozen 

 pairs. The eggs, three or four in number, are laid in a slight depression of 

 the dry sand, without pretense of cover: but all the information volunteered 

 as to their whereabouts by the ho\-ering or limping parents is studiouslv incor- 

 rect, and the eggs when found become again invisible once the eve leaves them. 



Great Salt Lake in L'tah and the ocean beaches of southern California 

 are typical summer ranges of the Snowy Plover: but the bird has been de- 

 scribed from near the Columbia in Oregon, and a specimen was taken at 

 Gray's Harb(.ir by Mr. C. W. Bowles; so that it is more than likelv tu be found 

 breeding in small numliers along the southern |)ortion of our ciwn Pacific shore. 



PLOVERDOM. 



No. 257. 



WILSON'S SNIPE. 



A. O. L'. No. 230. Gallinago delicata (Ord.). 



Synonyms. — American Sxipk. Jack Sxipe. "English" Snipe. Bog- 



SUCKER. 



Description. — Adult: Cpperparts brownish black, freckled, mottled, barred, 

 and streaked with ochraceous-buiif and whitish ; crown and back nearly pure black, 

 the former divided by irregular bufify median line ; the scapulars and inter- 

 scapulars bordered Iw whitish or cream-buff, on outer margins only ; wings 

 fuscous, the edge including outer web of first primary, white : the greater coverts, 

 secondaries, and sometimes inner primaries narrowlv tipped with white ; a dark 

 line from eve to bill : throat whitish : sides of head and neck and breast ochraceous- 



