WILSON SNIPE 87 



crescent above it and a black triangle below it, partially concealed 

 by brown tips ; there is a distinct black loral stripe, extending faintly 

 beyond the eye, and a less distinct black malar stripe ; between these 

 two is a conspicuous, large, white, cheek patch. The chin and upper 

 throat are " light ochraceous buff " ; below this on the lower throat 

 is a large sooty-black area, partially concealed by brown tips, these 

 *' tawny " brown tips predominating on the breast and flanks, and 

 shading off to " pale pinkish cinnamon " on the belly. 



The juvenal plumage appears first on the back and scapulars, 

 then on the breast and wing coverts. A bird in my collection, about 

 half grown has the above parts well feathered and the remiges one- 

 third grown; but the head and rump are still downy and the rectrices 

 have not yet started. The juvenal plumage is like the adult, except 

 that the buff edgings of the feathers on the sides of the back and the 

 scapulars, forming the stripes, are narrower and paler, sometimes 

 almost white on the outer webs. The body feathers and some of the 

 scapulars and tertials are molted during the fall, making the young 

 bird almost indistinguishable from the adult. 



Both young birds and adults have a partial prenuptial molt in the 

 late winter and early spring, involving the contour feathers, wing 

 coverts, tertials, and the tail. Adults have a complete molt between 

 July and October. The spring and fall plumages are alike except 

 that the fresh fall plumage is somewhat more richly colored. 



Food. — The feeding habits of the Wilson snipe are much like those 

 of the woodcock, except that it often feeds in much wetter places 

 and is somewhat less nocturnal. Benjamin T. Gault (1902) dis- 

 covered by observation that snipe occasional^ resort to open mud 

 flats, unmindful of the cover of darkness and that they feed at all 

 hours of the day. He describes their method of feeding as follows : 



The snipe seemed to select as special feeding grounds the water line just 

 bordering the flats, where the mud was soft and into which they delighted 

 in sinking their bills to the fullest depth. And in withdrawing them they 

 never elevated their necks in true sandpiper style. On the contrary they kept 

 their heads well " chucked down," so to speak, and in moving about from place 

 to place, which they seldom did, however, continue to hold them in the same 

 fashion. 



In some respect their probing methods resembled the rooting of swine — a 

 simple, up and down forward movement, and if remembered rightly, without 

 lateral twists or side thrusts of any kind, and at times exposing fully one-half 

 of the bill. 



Whether the Wilson snipe actually do resort to the so-called " suction " 

 method of procuring their food is a question still undetermined in my mind. 

 The glasses however brought out the important information that the probing 

 or feeling movements of the bill were accompanied every now and then with 

 a guttural or swallowing motion of the throat, which at times developed into ;i 

 decided gulp, as though large morsels of some kind were being taken down, 

 and this without the removal of the bill from the muck. 



