700 KEPORT or STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Woodcock does." He shows that they change their localities through 

 summer, as food is easy or hard to obtain; that to one who has studied 

 their favorite grounds they are to be found there through all the late 

 summer and fall; that they feed by day as well as by night, at times, 

 at least. In fall they are sometimes to be found in cornfields and 

 damp meadows. Conditions make demands upon them, and they 

 seem always to be equal to the emergency. In the fall they may pos- 

 sibly occasionally begin their migrations in October. They are re- 

 ported then, but whether the ones observed are summer residents or 

 migrants is not known. I have observed them at Brookville until 

 November 10, and from reports obtained, they sometimes stay until 

 the end of that month. Their leaving depends upon the weather. A 

 hard freeze, sufficiently severe to prevent them boring, will cause them 

 to go south. 



Dr. B. H. Warren, State Ornithologist of Pennsylvania, recording 

 the result of his investigations of the food of Woodcocks as ascer- 

 tained by dissection, found the young examined contained "small 

 fragments of worms." The food of others was earthworms, beetles, 

 larvas, and one had eaten a spider. One specimen, taken November 8, 

 had fed exclusively on small seeds (Birds of Pennsylvania, p. 80). 



46. GKNUS GALLINAGO LEACH. 



*89. (230). Gallinago delicata (ORD.). 



Wilson's Snipe. 



Crown, black, with a pale middle stripe; back, varied with black, 

 bright bay and tawny, the latter forming two lengthwise stripes on 

 the scapulars; neck and breast, speckled with brown and dusky; lining 

 of wings, barred with black and white; tail, usually of sixteen feathers, 

 barred with black, white and chestnut; sides, waved with dusky; belly, 

 dull white; quills, blackish, the outer white-edged. 



Length, about 10.50-11.50; wing, 5.00-5.60; tail, 2.60; bill, 2.50- 

 2.70. 



RANGE. America; Columbia and West Indies, north to Labrador, 

 Hudson Bay and Alaska. Breeds from northern Indiana and Con- 

 necticut north. Winters in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and South Caro- 

 lina south. 



Nest, a depression in a grassy meadow, -tiggs, 3-4; pale olive, olive- 

 grayish or pale olive-brown, heavily spotted, especially on larger end, 

 with deep brown and purplish-gray; 1.55 by 1.09. 



Abundant migrant. Summer resident northward; some winters a 

 few remain in suitable localities. It was taken by Mr. W. 0. Wallace 



