FAMILY SCOLOPACIDAE 413 



LIMNODROMUS SCOLOPACEUS (Say) : Long-billed Dowitcher; 

 Agachona Gris Piquilarga 

 Limosa scolopacea Say, in Long, Exped. Rocky Mountains, vol. 1, 1823, p. 170. 

 (Council Bluffs, Iowa.) 



Similar to the short-billed dowitcher but darker gray above and 

 below, and with longer bill. 



Description. — Length 245 to 270 mm. Differs from Limnodromus 

 griseus in all its races in having the tail and upper tail coverts decid- 

 edly blacker, with the white cross bars definitely narrower than the 

 black ones. Compared with Limnodromus griseus: Breeding plum- 

 age, somewhat darker above, with the markings on the back more 

 reddish brown ; lower surface much redder brown ; dark markings 

 on foreneck and upper breast in the form of short bars (instead of 

 rounded spots) . 



Winter plumage, above darker gray; breast and foreneck darker, 

 grayer; throat suffused with gray so that it does not appear solidly 

 white. 



Measurements (Alaskan specimens, from Pitelka, I.e., p. 29). — 

 Males, wing 133-144 (138.6), culmen 56.8-68.6 (62.1), tarsus 34.7- 

 41.2 (38.2) mm. 



Females, wing 138-151 (143.7), culmen 64.2-76.2 (71.6), tarsus 

 38.7-44.9 (41.0) mm. 



Migrant from the north. Abundance uncertain ; known at present 

 from two reports. 



At Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, on January 30, 1958, following a 

 heavy rain, dowitchers came with other waders to shallow pools on 

 the golf course. I noted two or three at first and then a band of a 

 dozen. Presently I was fortunate in collecting 3 males, grouped to- 

 gether, all of them of the long-billed form. In feeding these birds 

 walked about poking with their bills at the short grass. 



There is a male in the American Museum of Natural History taken 

 on October 27, 1927, at Cocoplum, near the seaward base of the 

 Valiente Peninsula, Bocas del Toro, by R. R. Benson, that also is 

 typical of this species. 



The specimen listed by Griscom as scolopaceus in his check-list, as 

 indicated above is L. g. hendersoni. 



CAPELLA GALLINAGO DELICATA (Ord): Common Snipe; Agachadiza 

 Scolopax delicata Ord, reprint of Wilson, Amer. Orn., vol. 9, 1825, p. ccxviii. 

 (Pennsylvania.) 



A long-billed, short-legged snipe of medium size, with dark- 

 colored rump. 



