THE DOWITCHER. 501 



No. 227. 



DOWITCHER. 



A. O. U. No. 231. Macrorhamphus griseus (Gruel.)- 



Synonyms. RED-BREASTED SNIPE (in summer) ; GRAY SNIPE (in winter). 



Description. Adult in summer: Upper parts 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 pale cinnamon, finely but not heavily speckled on sides of head and neck, 

 and across breast with blackish ; spotted or lightly barred with the same on sides ; 

 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; under parts white, clear on belly, shaded with ashy gray on throat 

 and breast ; the sides and under tail-coverts barred with blackish. Length 10.00- 

 11.00 (254.-2T94) ; wing 5.65 (i43-5); bm 2 -3 (5&4) ; tarsus 1.35 (34.3) 

 (Ridgway). 



Recognition Marks. Robin size ; pale cinnamon predominant above and 

 below in summer ; fine mottling of back in either plumage ; long bill ; beach- 

 haunting habits. 



Nesting. Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground. Eggs, 4, like 

 those of preceding species. Av. size, 1.65 x 1.13 (41.9 x 28.7). 



General Range. Eastern North America, breeding far north ; south in 

 winter to the West Indies and Brazil. Casual in Alaska, Bermuda, Great Britain 

 and Europe. 



Range in Ohio. Rare migrant. 



ALTHO comparable in size and general appearance to the Wilson Snipe, 

 in movement and habit the Dowitcher is the very antithesis of the wily and 

 erratic "Jack." The Gray Snipe is gregarious and unwary, and is found 

 chiefly in exposed situations, such as sand-bars, mud-flats and pebbly shoals. 

 It is not jerky in flight like its cousin, but moves swiftly and easily after 

 the approved fashion of Sandpipers. D. G. Elliott says of this species, "It 

 is an extremely gentle, sociable bird, goes in small flocks, the individuals of 

 which keep close together, and perform various graceful evolutions when 

 on the wing, as if moved by one common impulse." 



The Dowitcher is not commonly observed in the interior, but is one 

 of the favorite "bay-birds" of the Atlantic Coast, highly esteemed by gun- 



