WILSON’S SNIPE. 97 
eall, rapidly repeated as it flies over the water. After 
gaining headway it sails for some distance, when its wide- 
stretched wings show a white bar or band. 
The Spotted Sandpiper arrives from the South late 
in April and remains until October. It nests in the lat- 
ter half of May, laying four pear-shaped eggs, in color 
white or buff, thickly spotte] and speckled with choco- 
late, chiefly at the larger end. The young, like those of 
all Snipe, are born with a covering of downy feathers, 
and can run as soon as dry. The egg is, therefore, large 
in proportion to the size of the bird, and measures 1°25 by 
95 inches. (See Fig. 24c.) 
Unlike the two preceding birds, Wilson’s or the 
English Snipe is not a summer resident in the Middle 
Wilson’s Snipe, States, but as a rule nests from north- 
Gallinago detwata. erm New England northward, though 
Plete EX. there are records of its breeding as 
far south as Connecticut and Pennsylvania. It migrates 
northward in March and April, and the return joarney 
oceure during September and October. It is not a true 
shore bird, but frequents fresh-water marshes and mead- 
ows, and in rainy April weather, when the lowlands be-° 
come more or less flooded, it may be found in places where 
few persons would think of looking for Snipe. 
Like the Woodcock, Wilson’s Snipe probes the mud 
for food, and when on the ground among the grasses its 
colors and pattern of coloration so closely resemble its 
surroundings that it is almost invisible. . 
When flushed, it utters a startled scaip, and darts 
quickly into the air, flying at first in so erratic a manner 
that it has become famous among sportsmen as a diffi- 
cult mark. 
Like the Nighthawk, Wilson’s Snipe sometimes dives 
earthward from high in the air, making as he falls a 
sound which Minot compares to that produced by throw- 
