ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 215 



erence seems to be for low thickets in bottom lands; in late sum- 

 mer it is frequently found in cornfields near woods, and in autumn 

 is often found on wooded hillsides. Its presence in a localitj- may 

 always be detected by its "borings" in soft, damp ground, where 

 the long bill has been probed for earthworms. 



Formerly the species was much more common in the state. J. 

 A. Allen reported it as common in western Iowa (Mem. Bost.Soc, 

 i, 1868, 501); and F. Y. Hayden as "not uncommon near Council 

 Bluffs" (Trans. xA.m. Philos. Soc, xii, 1863, 174). Morton E.Peck 

 says it was "once a common migrant in most wooded localities; 

 now quite .scarce. Bred frequently in Blackhawk county twenty 

 years ago, where on April e\-enings in low woods the peculiar 

 nesting call was no uncommon sound." In Winnebago county 

 the species is also much less common than formerly. At the pres- 

 ent time all ob.servers who reported consider the Woodcock as a 

 rare summer resident in Iowa. 



Genus Gallinago Leach. 

 94. (230). Cialli)iago dcHcata (Ord). Wil.son Snipe. 



The Wilson Snipe, the popular "Jack-snipe" of nearly all gun- 

 ners, is an abundant migrant in almost all parts of the state, being 

 most common in April. It frequents the edges of marshes and 

 water-soaked meadows, where it probes with its long, sensitive 

 bill in the soft ground for its food. When flushed the bird springs 

 up into the air in a swift, tortuous spiral, uttering a hoarse ' 'scape' ' 

 and forming a very difficult target until, poising for a moment in 

 mid-air, it dashes away in a straight course. 



The Wilson Snipe generally breeds farther north than the Iowa 

 line, returning in September, remaining through October, and 

 frequently tarrying until late in November around .some springy 

 run. In such localities the species has been known to remain 

 until midwinter, even in Minnesota (Roberts) and Wisconsin 

 (Kumlien and HoUister). I have seen the bird in Winnebago 

 count}- as earl}' as August 11 (1894), and flushed one specimen 

 from a springy bog in Ivllington township, Hancock county, in 

 midwinter. 



John Krider .states that he "found it breeding in Iowa" (Forty 

 Years' Notes, 1879, p. 63), but the only recent record is that of 

 W. H. Bingaman, who reports: "One set taken in ITnion Slough 



