Notes from Field and Study 



171 



morning, the male Snipe was almost con- 

 stantly circling over the swamp, high in 

 the air, and, at intervals of perhaps five or 

 ten seconds, making a series of loud, 

 whirring wing-notes. Heard in a dark 

 night, the weird sound seems to be only 

 a few feet over one's head; but, in reality, 

 the bird is high up, often so high that it 

 is difficult to find him, even in daylight. 

 The bird begins his flight by a long, 

 noiseless slant, at an angle of perhaps 

 fifteen degrees to the horizontal. He soon 

 reaches a culminating point, turns and 

 shoots downward at about the same angle, 

 producing the curious sounds, which grow 

 louder and higher in pitch as the bird 

 descends. This ascending and descending 

 flight is continued around and around in 

 a wide circle two hundred yards or more 

 in diameter. 



Once, when watching this performance, 

 I noticed that the bird began this down- 

 ward flight when directly opposite the 

 peak of a distant mountain. I counted 

 the number of upward and downward 

 flights as it went around the circle, 

 and at the end of five complete 

 flights found it again opposite the moun- 

 tain peak. I watched it several times as 

 it circled round, and found just five 

 flights in each circle. From where I stood, 

 the circle divided into ten equal parts by 

 the high and low points of flight, and each 

 of these points was always opposite a cer- 

 tain point in the horizon. 



Several times I searched about the 

 swamp, in an attempt to find the Snipe's 

 nest, but was unsuccessful. Occasion- 

 ally I flushed a Snipe, and'often heard its 

 long, Rail-like call. On June 7, however, 

 when returning to the vicinity after an 

 absence of several days, a friend who 

 lived in a cabin near the edge of the swamp 

 told me that he had found the nest. In 

 a small grassy opening among the willows, 

 he pointed out the mother Snipe seated 

 on it. I approached within a few inches 

 of her back before she finally left the 

 nest. She dropped into the grass a few 

 feet away, and, for a time feigned lame- 

 ness, in an attempt to lead us away. The 

 nest was merely a hollow lined with a few 



coarse grasses. The four dark brown, 

 heavily spotted eggs were placed with the 

 points together and the large ends up and 

 out. . 



On June 12 I found that the young 

 were just coming out. One young bird, 

 still wet, lay beside its broken shell. A 

 second egg was cracked clear across, and 

 a third egg pipped. Soon the second egg 

 had fallen apart, and the j'oung bird, with 

 one foot in the air, was struggling to free 

 its head from the shell. During all this 

 time, the mother Snipe remained a few 

 feet away in the grass, watching us and 

 occasionally calling excitedly. The male 

 was circling through the sky, as usual, 

 and appeared to take no interest what- 

 ever in the nest or the young. 



The next morning I was out early to 

 see what had occurred during the night. 

 The sky was clouded and a light rain was 

 falling. I flushed the female near the nest, 

 but found only broken shells and the 

 fourth egg, which had not hatched, in the 

 nest itself. After a long search through 

 the grass surrounding the nest, I found a 

 young bird only a few inches from its 

 edge. It appeared nearly twice as large, 

 and fully three times as interesting, as 

 the little wet chicks of the night before. 

 In spite of a rainy night, it was fluffed out 

 into a little round ball of brown, cream- 

 spotted down. After a little more search, 

 I discovered the other two young hiding 

 in the grass close to the nest. — Aretas A. 

 Saunders, Anaconda, Mont. 



Notes From Prospect Park 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. 



On May 14, 191 2, we observed Brew- 

 ster's Warbler and the Mourning Warbler 

 in Prospect Park.— K. P. and E. W. 

 ViETOR, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



Unusual Abundance of Goldfinches 

 Bird-Lore will be glad to receive any 

 notes on the exceptional abundance of 

 Goldfinches during the past spring. At 

 Englewood, N. J., they have been ob- 

 served, since April 15, in flocks contain- 

 ing several hundred individuals. — Frank 

 M. Chapman, Englewood, N. J. 



