SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS 247 



Besides this 'drumming' or 'bleating,' as it is called, the Snipe, 

 while mating, sometimes makes another peculiar sound, a kuk-kuk-kuk- 

 kuk-kup, evidently vocal and occasionally accompanying a slow, labored, 

 and perfectly direct flight, at the end of which the bird alights on a 

 tree or fence-post for a few moments. WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



1902. GAULT, B. T. Wilson Bull., 7-10 (food habits). 



The EUROPEAN SNIPE (229. Gallinago gallinago) inhabits the northern 

 parts of the Old World, is of frequent occurrence in Greenland, and accidental 

 in the Bermudas. 



The GREAT SNIPE (230.1 Gallinago media], an Old World species, has 

 been taken once on Hudson Bay (Coues, Auk, XIV, 1897, 209). 



231. Macrorhamphus griseus griseus (GmeL). DOWITCHER. (Figs. 

 42a, 43c.) Ads. in summer. Upperparts, tertials, and wing-coverts black, 

 the feathers edged or barred with ochraceous-buff or rufous; rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail barred with black and more or less ochraceous-buff; 

 primaries fuscous; underparts dull, pale rufous, whitish on belly, more or 

 less spotted and barred with black. Ads. and Juv. in winter. Upperparts 

 brownish gray; rump and tail barred with black and white; throat and breast 

 washed with ashy, belly white, sides and under tail-coverts barred with 

 black. Juv. Upperparts black, the feathers edged with rufous; rump and 

 tail barred with black and white, and sometimes washed with rufous; 

 secondaries widely edged with white; underparts more or less washed with 

 ochraceous-buff and obscurely spotted with blackish. L., 10*50; W., 5'75; 

 Tar., 1'30; B., 2*05-2*50. 



Remarks. The barred tail and tail-coverts, with the peculiar flattened, 

 pitted tip of the bill, are characteristic of this species. 



Range. E. N. and S. Am. Breeding range unknown, but probably n. 

 Ungava ; winters from Fla. and the West Indies s. to n. Brazil ; in migration 

 regularly on the Atlantic coast, and occasionally in Ills., Ind., and Ont.; 

 accidental in Greenland, Bermuda, Great Britain, and France. 



Washington, casual, one specimen, Sept. Long Island, common T. V., 

 May 15-30; July 12-Sept. 29. 



Eggs, 4, light buffy olive, distinctly spotted and speckled especially 

 about the larger end, with deep brown, 1*65 x 1*13 (Ridgw.). 



The Dowitchers are among our best-known Bay Birds. They 

 migrate in compact flocks which are easily attracted to decoys by an 

 imitiation of their call. Mud-flats and bars exposed by the falling tide 

 are their chosen feeding-grounds. On the Gulf coast of Florida I have 

 seen several hundred gathered in such close rank that they entirely 

 concealed the sandbar on which they were resting. 



232. M. g. scolopaceus (Say). LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. Ads. in summer. 

 Similar to the preceding, but averaging larger; the bill especially is longer, 

 the underparts are more uniformly rufous, and the sides are more heavily 

 barred with black. Ads. in winter and Juv. To be distinguished from the 

 corresponding stages of griseus only by their larger size. W., 6*00; Tar., 1*50; 

 B., 2-10-2-90. 



Range. W. N. and S. Am. Breeds from Point Barrow to mouth of 

 the Yukon, e. to nw. Mackenzie; winters from La., Fla., and Mex. s., 

 probably to S.^ A.; in migration most abundant in w. Miss. Valley; casual 

 on the Atlantic coast from Mass, southward and on the n. coast of e. 

 Siberia. 



Washington, casual, seven shot in Apl. Long Island, rare T. V., in fall, 

 July 23-Oct. 13 ; one record in spring. 



