Snipe 373 



tries. Its habits are similar to those of its American cousin, including the pro- 

 duction of the sounds likened to the bleating of a kid, drumming, etc., though 

 its flight is, perhaps, not quite so erratic when flushed. 



Other Species. Of the other Old World species, mention may be made of 

 the Wood Snipe (G. nemoricola) of the Indian peninsula and Assam, which is a 

 little larger and duller colored than the last, but is otherwise quite similar. It is 

 described as a solitary bird, frequenting swampy localities, often in the Himalayas 

 ascending to from 8000 to 12,000 feet altitude. The Pin-tailed Snipe (G. stenura), 

 which breeds in eastern Siberia and migrates in winter to the Indian peninsula, 

 China, and the Moluccas, is distinguished at once by possessing a tail of twenty- 

 six feathers, of which eight on either side are narrow, stiff, and shorter than the 

 others; its colors are quite like those of the common European species (G. gal- 

 linago). Smallest of all is the little Jack Snipe (G. gallinula], which is some- 

 times placed in a genus by itself (Limnocryptes), and which may be known by a 

 length of seven and a half or eight inches and a tail of twelve soft, pointed feath- 

 ers. This bird breeds in the northern part of Europe and Asia, mainly north of 

 the Arctic Circle, and winters far south. Of the group of South American species 

 the Paraguay Snipe (G. paraguayce) may serve as the example. About ten and 

 a half inches long, brown, striped and barred with black and fulvous above, 

 and white, marbled with dusky and brown below, it is an abundant and resident 

 species in the Plata district, breeding in the midst of great marshes, but as soon 

 as the young are able to fly returning again to the more open, wet country, where 

 they sometimes congregate in flocks of many hundreds. They are then very 

 wild and difficult of approach. It has the habit of performing aerial evolutions 

 similar to those described for the Wilson's Snipe, and Mr. Hudson says that the 

 " singular grinding sounds caused by their feathers in their violent descent from 

 a great height become distinctly audible at a distance of a mile." Brazil and 

 Paraguay is the home of the Giant Snipe (G. gigantea), the largest of the 

 Snipes, which attains a length of nineteen inches. 



Dowitchers. With a well-developed web at the base between the front 

 toes, but otherwise quite well agreeing with the species of Gallinago, are the Dow- 

 itchers (Macrorhamphus), of which three species are recognized. The best-known 

 form is the Common Dowitcher (M. griseus) of eastern North America, which 

 breeds within the Arctic Circle and spends the winter from Florida to South 

 America. It attains a length of ten or eleven inches, the summer plumage 

 being largely black above with the feathers edged or barred with rufous or buff, 

 the tail and its coverts being white, barred with blackish, while the lower parts 

 are pale rufous, becoming whitish on the abdomen and more or less barred or 

 spotted with black. In winter nearly the whole plumage is ashy gray, somewhat 

 intermixed with whitish, the abdomen being usually unspotted white. The bill, 

 it may be added, is flattened, expanded, and somewhat corrugated at the end. 

 The Dowitchers, Red-breasted, or Gray Snipe, as they are variously called, are 

 shore or bay birds, frequenting often in large flocks the bars and mud flats ex- 

 posed by the receding tide. They move in compact flocks, and answering readily 

 to the decoys are frequently decimated by the gunner who lies in wait. Dis- 



