OTHER SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 295 



ciently describing them to enable the sportsman to 

 identify them. The smaller birds are sometimes shot 

 by accident when the gun is fired at larger game, and 

 it has been the practice on many beaches to shoot them 

 for sport for the want of something better when the 

 larger birds are not about. 



I.— THE DOWITCHER — RED-BREASTED SNIPE 



This bird is about the same in size as the Wilson 

 snipe, has the same long bill and is often mistaken for 

 the latter bird. In the Western markets I have seen 

 them hung up in bunches with the Wilson snipe, often 

 called jack or English snipe. I have found and shot 

 them on the same wet grass fields with the Wilson 

 snipe. Along the shores they are shot over decoys 

 with the other shore birds. They respond well to an 

 imitation of their whistle, and the baymen are quite 

 expert in calling them. As Elliot observes, they are 

 among the last to take alarm should an intruder draw 

 near. Like some of the other varieties, before being 

 too much shot at they will return a second time to the 

 decoys, provided the gunner remains concealed and 

 can imitate their familiar call, and many often fall at a 

 shot. 



The long-billed dowitcher is the Western variety and 

 is only found in western North America, breeding in 

 Alaska to the Arctic Coast, migrating south in winter 

 through the western United States (including the Mis- 

 sissippi valley) to Mexico, and less commonly along 

 the Atlantic Coast. Its bill is somewhat longer than 

 that of the Eastern bird, but from the sportsman's 

 point of view the two birds are the same. 



