vol. xxxvin 



1920 



Nichols, Limicoline Voices. oZo 



reedy calls of marsh loving species and ringing notes of those which 

 spend more time in the open, leaves little doubt that there is some 

 correlation between habitat and quality cf voice. We will merely 

 point cut that carrying power of voice is an asset to the wide- 

 ranging species of the open, and call the reader's attention to the 

 interesting, if fanciful, remarks of Rhoads on the mimetic char- 

 acter of bird language in 'The American Naturalist' for 1889. 



Dowitchers (Macrorhampus griseus grisevs and M. g. scolo- 

 paceus). The flight-note of the Dowitcher resembles that of the 

 Lesser Yellow T -legs but is recognizably different, — less loud and 

 more hurried, usually suggesting the bird's name: "dowitch," 

 or "dowitcher," sometimes of a single syllable. This call is 

 subject to considerable variation. When used as a regular flight 

 or recognition note I believe it is most frequently two-syllabled, 

 clear and full. This at least was true of one or more birds observed 

 on the north gulf-coast of Florida, September 6, 1919. One was 

 certainly the Long-billed race, but I detected nothing unfamiliar 

 in its voice and infer that that of the two races is the same. When 

 the call becomes more abrupt and emphatic and the last syllable 

 is multiplied it seems to indicate that the bird is excited rather 

 than to have especial significance, " dowicheche. " 



A flock manouevered about the stool with single unloud low- 

 pitched "chup"s (Mastic, Long Island, August 25, 1919). A 

 low rattle from this species dropping down to alight (Mastic, May 

 18), and a startled "chee" from an extra tame Long-billed Do- 

 witcher in Florida flushed by being almost struck with something 

 thrown at it, completed, until recently, the writer's knowledge 

 of the Dowitcher 's calls, except that variations of the flight-note 

 have not been fully described. 



On September 28, 1919, however, I met with the Long-billed 

 Dowitcher for the first time on Long Island. Two birds of this 

 race stopping on a meadow where there was favorable feeding 

 ground, when coming or going on the wing, when pausing from 

 feeding to call to Yellow-legs which decoyed to them readily, or 

 when standing alert and suspicious of me before flying, kept 

 calling a short sharp "pip!" suggestive of one of the calls of the 

 Solitary Sandpiper, though less loud and metallic. This note was 



