648 THE LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. 
Besides its semi-nocturnal habits and fashion of probing the mud for 
food, the Wilson Snipe closely resembles the Woodcock in the manner of its 
love-making. Indeed, never having had opportunity of simultaneous com- 
parison, I cannot now distinguish in memory the characteristic hooting notes 
of the Snipe from those of the Woodcock. I have seen the former, not only 
at the favorite hours of dawn and sunset, but at high noon as well, hovering 
over a pasture swamp patch, or cutting mysterious figures in high air, and 
uttering ever and anon the most lugubrious, love-lorn strains, like unfocused 
flute-notes. This passion song of the Jack-snipe has been called drumming, 
but the term is inappropriate. When the nesting season is on the male betrays 
his anxiety by resorting frequently to commanding positions on fence-posts 
and stumps. Sometimes, when greatly excited, the bird will utter a harsh, 
guttural cackling or bleating note. On such occasions, when the bird is settled 
on a post regarding you with sober, down-turned beak and watchful eye, 
the effect is irresistibly comical. And you might as well laugh, for you can’t 
find the nest—not once in a dozen times. 
No. 258. 
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. 
ALO. U. No, 232. Macrorhamphus scolopaceus (Say). 
Synonyms.—WesteERN DowitcHer. WESTERN RED-BREASTED SNIPE. Rep- 
BELLIED SNIPE. 
Description —4Adu/t in summer: Upperparts black, finely mottled and 
streaked with pale cinnamon-rufous, and with some white; rump and upper tail- 
coverts white, finely and heavily marked with broadly crescentic, blackish. spots, 
and sometimes tinged with ochraceous; tail barred with black and white or with 
black and ochraceous; lesser wing-coverts light grayish brown; primaries dusky ; 
the greater wing-coverts and secondaries varied by white margining, shaft-marks 
and tips; a chain of dark specks from bill to eye; belly whitish; remaining under- 
parts rich cinnamon, finely but not heavily speckled on sides of head and neck, 
and across breast with blackish; thickly barred with the same on sides and flanks ; 
axillars and lining of wings white, striped and barred, or with V-shaped mark- 
ings of dusky; bill and legs greenish black. Adult in winter: Pale cinnamon- 
color wanting; above brownish gray, the feathers with darker centers; rump and 
upper tail-coverts black and white without ochraceous; indistinct superciliary 
white stripe; underparts white,—clear on belly, shaded with ashy gray on throat 
and breast; the sides and under tail-coverts barred with blackish. Length 11,00- 
12.50 (279.4-317.5); wing 5.72 (145.3); tail 2.20 (55.9); bill 2.72 (69.1) ; tarsus 
1.53 (38.9). 
Recognition Marks.—Robin size; pale cinnamon predominant above and 
rich cinnamon below in summer; fine mottling of back in either plumage; long 
bill; beach-haunting habits. 
