WILSON SNIPE 83 



latter part of the song and finishing it. This curious song flight was kept up 

 for 15 minutes, ending with a downward dash. But before the bird reached the 

 ground and was yet some 20 yards above it there was apparently a complete 

 collapse. The bird dropped as if shot for several feet, but abruptly recovered 

 itself to fly a short distance farther and repeat this new maneuver. By a 

 succession of these collapses, falls, recoveries, and short flights the acrobatically 

 inclined bird finally reached the ground, alighting in the grass near me. 



All of the early American writers, and many others since then, 

 supposed that the winnowing sound was made by the bird's wings, 

 although many European observers long ago argued that it w T as made 

 by the two pairs of outer tail feathers, which are widely spread and 

 held downward at right angles to the axis of the body during the 

 downward swoops and vibrate as the air rushes through them. W. L. 

 Dawson (1923) says that — 



the body of the sound is produced by the impact of the air upon the sharp 

 lateral feathers of the tail, held stiffly, while the pulsations of sound are 

 produced by the wings. At least it is certain that the pulsations of sound 

 are synchronous with the wing beats. The sound begins gradually, as while 

 the tail is expanding, and closes with a smooth diminuendo as the tail is 

 closing and while the wings are sailing. 



N. S. Goss (1891) gives a different account of the courtship, as 

 follows : 



In courtship, the male struts with drooping wings and widespread tail 

 around his mate, in a most captivating manner, often at such times rising 

 spirallike with quickly beating wings high in air, dropping back in a wavy 

 graceful circle, uttering at the same time his jarring cackling love note, which, 

 with the vibration of the wings upon the air, makes a rather pleasing sound. 



Mr. Sutton (1923) noted some peculiar flight performances, wdiich 

 may be connected with the courtship; he says: 



On April 29 two birds were repeatedly flushed together ; not always the 

 same two individuals necessarily, I presume, and not certainly of opposite 

 sex. But these birds often sailed gracefully over the cattails, in wide sweep- 

 ing undulations, with wings set in a manner suggesting chimney swifts, a type 

 of flight totally different from any previously observed. The same stunt was 

 many times observed in the male bird of the pair whose nest was located. 

 In fact this type of display, if it were display, was so common that the usual 

 twitching, erratic flight was only rarely seen. I have wondered if this may 

 not have been a pair of birds, possibly recently mated, though not actually 

 nesting there. 



On May 3, in a portion of the swamp near town, a new antic was observed. 

 A snipe, subsequently determined as a male, sprang up close at hand, and after 

 a few energetic, direct wing beats, put his wings high above his body and, 

 describing a graceful arc, (implied toward the ground, his legs (railing, only to 

 rise again to repeat the performance. Never during this exhibition did he 

 actually touch the ground with his feet, so far as I could see, but it gave that 

 impression. He was clearly excited, and I now know that such antics are a 

 certain indication of nest in- activity. At such times the male gave forth sev- 

 eral short notes which may accurately he termed " bleats." Occasionally the 

 bird, after performing this novel antic would drop to the grass some distance 



