G4. WATER BIRDS 
Young: Similar, but belly and chest tinged with uniform light red- 
brown. ; 
Geographical Distribution : Mississippi valley and Western North Amer- 
ica from Mexico to Alaska. In California it is found as a common 
winter visitant in the interior valleys. 
Breeding Range: The Yukon valley and arctic regions. 
Breeding Season: May 28 to July 1. 
Nest: A shallow depression in Alaskan moss ; placed on dry hill-tops. 
Eggs: 3 or 4; dirty grayish buff, marked with blackish brown. Size 
1.80 X 1.20. 
In California, the Long-billed Dowitchers occur only 
in the winter, when cold drives them southward from 
their chosen haunts among the frozen regions of Alaska. 
They come in October, flying in little companies along 
the coast region or through the interior valleys, feeding 
wherever there is a suitable marshy place. About San 
Francisco Bay and Alviso they may occasionally be seen 
on migration, but as soon as possible they find winter 
quarters in the more sheltered valleys. Their flight is 
strong and swift, though rather low. When resting, the 
Dowitchers huddle together in the tall grass, and are 
either so confiding or so stupid that they are easy victims 
to the hunter. To know them one must watch them in 
their nesting grounds in the Yukon valley. Here, ac- 
cording to Mr. Nelson, their noisy wooing can be heard 
morning and evening, the love song being a clear “ pee- 
ter-wee-too ; wee-too! pee-ter-wee-too ; wee-too,” sung 
as the pair hover in midair, twenty yards above the 
earth. 
The unlined nest is usually in a clump of Alaskan 
moss or dry grass, and not very near the water. The 
young are covered with brownish gray down, so pro- 
tective in coloring as to render their discovery difficult. 
