88 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Henry W. Henshaw (1875) describes an entirely different method 

 of feeding; he says: 



In migrating, however, especially in Arizona and New Mexico, did it depend 

 wholly upon its usual methods of obtaining sustenance, it would fare badly, 

 since, in some sections, there is a total lack of meadow and marsh, and then 

 it may be seen in broad midday running along the sandy borders of the streams, 

 and picking up from among the pebbles and debris any tidbits in the shape of 

 insects it can find. It retains, however, even under these adverse conditions, 

 its habit of squatting, and, when approached closely I have seen it lower its 

 body close to the ground, shrink as it were into as little space as possible, and 

 so remain till I was within a few feet, when it would get up with its well 

 known scaip, scaip, and, following the turns and sinuosities of the streams, 

 endeavor to find some little covered nook into which it could drop out of sight. 



M. P. Skinner watched a snipe feeding on the muddy shore of a 

 pond in the Yellowstone Valley ; he says in his notes : 



He was about 6 inches from shore and at each stroke his bill went in up 

 to his eyes. The strokes were rapid like those of a woodpecker. He covered 

 a space perhaps 4 inches wide and 15 feet long in an hour, getting something 

 every half dozen strokes or so. He was very busy there for two hours at 

 least. 



Earthworms probably constitute the principle food of the Wilson 

 snipe, but it also eats cutworms, wireworms, leaches, grasshoppers, 

 locusts, beetles, mosquitoes, other insects and their larvse, and some 

 seeds of marsh plants. 



Behavior. — Snipe are notorious for their erratic flight and they 

 often, probably usually, do dodge and zigzag when they first flush 

 in alarm, but not always; I have seen them fly away as steadily 

 as any other shore bird. Snipe usually lie closely crouched on 

 the ground trusting to their excellent protective coloration, and 

 do not flush until nearly trodden upon; so that in their hurry to 

 get away their flight is erratic. When well under way their flight 

 is steady and swift with the occasional turnings common to all shore 

 birds. When first flushed they generally fly low, but when flying 

 from one part of a marsh to another, or when migrating, they fly 

 very high. When alighting they pitch down suddenly from a 

 great height and then flutter down slowly into the grass or drop 

 straight down wnth wings elevated and bill pointing upwards. They 

 are less gregarious than other waders; they usually flush singly, but 

 often within a few yards of each other if plentiful. They are seldom 

 seen in flocks. John T. Nichols tells me in his notes of a flock of 

 seven which he saw on Long Island : 



They were flying high from the east to west, the regular southward lane 

 for shore birds, and bunched up like dowitchers or yellowlegs as they circled 

 over the marsh, then slanted down obliquely (as these other birds would have 

 done) to alight on a piece of dead stubble. By the time I reached them they 

 had scattered somewhat; four (scattered) and- three (bunched) flushed from 



