2l6 DAVENPORT ACADHISIY OF SCIENCES. 



(Kossuth county). May 3, 1901, the only pair that I think ever 

 nested around here." 



Sul^family TRINGIN.E. Sandpipers. 

 Genus Macrorhamphus Leach. 



95. (231). Macror/iaiiipIiKS griseus {OnxeX.). Dowitcher. 



The Dowitcher or Red-breasted Snipe is a not very common 

 migrant in Iowa. It was hsted by Allen (White's Geol. of Iowa, 

 ii, 1870, 425). Trippe reported it as "not common; seen in spring 

 only" — Decatur and Mahaska (Pr. Bost. Soc, xv, 1872, 241), and 

 Parker from "Clinton county" (Am. Nat., v, 1871, 169). Keyes 

 and Williams give the species as "not uncommon during the mi- 

 gratory period" (Bds. of Iowa, 1899, 122). Peabody reported it 

 from Heron Lake, Minn., fall of 1894 (051., xii, i, 1895). 

 • County records: Des Moines — "two specimens in the I'niver- 

 ity musevun, taken at Burlington by Paul Bartsch: No. 16290, 

 Aug. 6, 1893; ^o- 1 629 1, Aug. 16, 1893. Lee — "rare — Keokuk 

 district" (Praeger). Polk — "conmion" (Johnson). Pottawatta- 

 mie — "rare migrant" (Trostler). Sioux — "rare" (Johnson). 

 Woodbur}' — "uncommon tran.sient; Sioux City" (Rich). 



96. (232). Macrorha))iphus scolopaceus (Sa}'). Long-billed Dow- 



itcher. 



This species is very much like the last but is more highly col- 

 ored and averages larger. It is generally regarded as having a 

 more western range, but both varieties are known to occur at 

 large over the whole of North America. It is interesting to Iowa 

 ornithologists to know that the species was originalh- described 

 by Thomas Say as IJj)wsa sco/opacea, from several specimens shot 

 in a pond near the "Bowyer Creek," Pottawattamie county, Iowa 

 (Long's Exp., 1819-20, i. Notes, p. 335). 



Kumlien and Hollister state that formerly both griscus and 

 scolopaceus were very common, 1865-1875, during May, June, July, 

 August and September (less in July), but very few bred. In Wis- 

 consin, at the present time, they are known only during migra- 

 tions and then sparingly (Birds of Wis., 1903, 44). John Krider 

 noted: "Arrives in Iowa about the first of June, feeding on the 

 l)urnt prairies" (Forty Years' Notes, 1879, 64). G. H. Berry noted 

 the species as a "rare summer resident" at Hawarden, Sioux 

 County, in 1890. 



