110 BULLETIN 142, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



together. After the eggs were taken a set of phalarope's eggs was 

 placed in the nest ; the dowitcher returned took one look at the eggs 

 and then flew away and was never seen near the nest again. 



Eggs. — One of Mr. Henderson's sets was apparently complete with 

 three eggs, but four is the usual number. There is probably no 

 constant difference between the eggs of this and its long-billed rela- 

 tive. One of Mr. Harlow's sets he describes as " light olive-green, 

 rather lightly marked with pin points, spots, flecks, and a few 

 blotches of dark umber and dark brown." The other set, he says, is 

 slightly darker olive-green and is "much more heavily spotted and 

 blotched with small and large spots of umber and brown and under 

 shell markings of a lighter color." The measurements of 18 Alberta 

 eggs average 40.8 by 29.2 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 44 by 29.5, 41 by 30.3, 38.2 by 28.5, and 38.7 by 

 27.7 millimeters. 



Plumages. — The plumages and molts, which are the same in both 

 forms, are full} 7 described under the long-billed dowitcher. 



Food. — The favorite feeding grounds of the dowitchers are the 

 mud flats and sand flats in sheltered bays and estuaries, or the borders 

 of shallow ponds on the marshes, where they associate freety with 

 small plovers and sandpipers. Although not inclined to move about 

 actively, their feeding motions are very rapid, as they probe in the 

 mud or sand with quick, perpendicular strokes of their long bills, 

 driving them in their full length again and again in rapid succes- 

 sion; while feeding in shallow water the whole head is frequently 

 immersed and sometimes several strokes are made with the head 

 under water. Dr. E. R. P. Janvrin writes to me : 



Mr. J. T. Nichols and I watched three individuals feeding on the salt 

 meadows late in the afternoon, continuing our observations until it was so 

 dark that we could hardly distinguish the birds any longer; at which time 

 the birds were still feeding. The question arose whether dowitchers might not 

 be nocturnal in their feeding habits, as is the case with the woodcock and 

 Wilson's snipe, since the sense of sight is certainly not essential to their 

 probing for food. 



Various observers have noted among the food items of the 

 dowitcher grasshoppers, beetles, flies, maggots, marine worms, 

 oyster worms, leeches, water bugs, fish eggs, small mollusks, seeds 

 of aquatic plants, and the roots of eelgrass. 



Behavior. — Dowitchers are the gentlest and most unsuspicious of 

 shore birds, which has made them easy prey for the avaricious 

 gunner. Their flight is swift and steady, often protracted and 

 sometimes at a great elevation, when looking for feeding places. 

 They usually fly in compact flocks by themselves, sometimes per- 

 forming interesting evolutions high in the air. They often fly, how- 

 ever, in flocks with other small waders, but the dowitchers are gen- 



