120 NOTES ON THE 



But when they return in that month, instead of affecting the 

 former localities, they are generally found in cultivated fields, 

 amidst corn, grain shocks, etc., and occasionally in ditches in 

 the meadows. Itinerant collectors have failed to contribute^ 

 any information about this species in other sections of the| 

 State, and I am left to sportsmen for facts concerning theii 

 local distribution. Through them I have ascertained that 

 while nowhere extremely abundant, it is found in all sections 

 favorable for their securing food. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill long, compressed, punctured and corrugated near the 

 end; upper mandible longest, and fitted to lower at the tipfl 

 wings moderate, first three quills very narrow; tail short; legs 

 moderate; eyes inserted unusually distant from the bill; occi- 

 put with three transverse bands of black, alternating with 

 three others of pale, yellowish rufous; upper parts of the body 

 variegated with pale ashy, rufous, or yellowish-red of various 

 shades, and black; large space in front, and throat, reddish- 

 ashy; line from the eye to the bill, and another on the neck 

 below the eye, brownish-black; entire under parts pale rufous, 

 brighter on the sides and under wing coverts; quills ashy- 

 brown; tail feathers, brownish-black, tipped with ashy, darker 

 on the upper surface, paler and frequently white on the under; 

 bill light brown, paler and yellowish at the base; legs pale 

 reddish; iris brown. 



Length, 11; wing, 5.25; tail, 2.25; tarsus, 1.25. 



Habitat, eastern province of North America, north to Brit- 

 ish provinces, west to Dakota, Kansas, etc. 



GALLINAGO DELICATA (Ord). (230.) 

 WILSON'S SNIPE. 



In the last days of February, some sixteen years ago, the 

 Ducks, Geese, and this species of Snipe came into this latitude 

 as unseasonably as the farmers commenced sowing their wheat. 

 And cold as several "snaps" were subsequently, none of these 

 species left the country, appearing constantly afterwards on 

 the fields and in the marshes where the waters were open. 

 The Snipes are usually either preceded by the Geese and 

 Ducks somewhat, or being quite nocturnal in their habits, are 

 overlooked for more or less time after their arrival, which is 

 probably the case. Excepting the spring mentioned, and 

 another in which they were observed on the 27th of March, 

 they have never come under my notice, nor have they been re- 

 ported to me by others before the first of April. 



