192 



PU.KCOCIAL GRALLATUKES — LIMICOL.E. 



set, but at times continuiiij; an hour and a liall' latrr. Tlu' noise made on these occa- 

 sions lie c()m|iai'('s tu rapidly vi'pt'ated switdies of a cane in the air; and this wus 

 repeated every liall'-nnnate. with in'casional him^cr intervals. The sound histed ahoiit 

 three seconds, and was made as the liird (U'scended riii)idly in a vertical direction, 

 lieinj;' caused apimrently liy the ([uill-feathers of tlie wiuLjs. This sometimes took 

 place in the middle of the day, hut only durinji; the love-season. 



According? to Dresser, the Sniiie is very common aluait San Antcmio, Texas, duriu;; 

 the winter, and was last noticed on the 2(>th of A[iril, none haviny lieen seen durinj^' 

 the previous week; accovdini; to Mv. .Moore, it passes the winter in Florichi. 



Attention has been called by different writers to the occasional jx'rchinj^- of tho 

 Snipe on trees, as if souu'thini,' lUiu .ual ; lait it is by no means an nnconnaon occur- 

 rence durin,t;; the breedinij;-season, and the bird is said to do this ciueHy or wholly 

 when its nest or youn.t,' are distui'bcil. 



The nest of the Snipe is always on tlu^ i;r()und, iind is constructed in the niost 

 simple maniu'r, it beinj^ nothinij; mu.^' than a ladlow made in the grass or moss, and 

 lined with a little dry i,n'ass or a tVfW feathers. The usual nundu'r of the eggs is four, 

 and the young run about as soon as they are luitched. At hrst tiiey feed on hirva-, 

 snudl insects, and snails ; but at the end of a few weeks their bills have suflu'icutly 

 hardened to enable them to jienetrate into the moist ground and obtain tlie worms 

 they prefer. 



Mr. MacFarlane found the Sin[)e breeding near Fort Aiuh'rson, dune \(>. The lu'st 

 was on the ground, and was composed of a few decayed leaves placed in a small 

 hole made in the earth. Another nest was obtained in the same neighborhood, June 

 L'!), near a snudl lake, and was a men' hole in the ground, lined with a suudl (juau- 

 tity of hay and a few decayed leaves. I have an egg ni' this species taken from 

 a nest on the Delaware, near I'liilndelphia, iind others Irom Niiigara Falls, Xorthcru 

 Xew York, Lake Koskonoug. A\'isconsiu, I'ictou, Nova Scotia, and Dakota Territory. 



T'ho eggs of this sjiccics are always f'oivr in nund)cr, and of a pyriform shape, with 

 one end l)roadly obtuse and the other ra])idly tapering. The ground-color is usually 

 of a light olivaceous brown ; in sonu' it is of a light grayish drab, aiul occasionally a 

 rufous drab. The s])ots are uniforudy of a bright scpiii. snudl and scattered at the 

 smaller a])ex, but larger, and often continent, about the other eiul. The eggs nu'asure 

 l.nit iuchcs in leugth and LIS in breadth, and are less variable in size than those of 

 most of the Wading-birds. 



;•■ «■ 



Gallinago ccelestis. 



THE EUROFEAN SNIPE. 



Scolopaie gallinago, Link. S. X. cd. 10, ITHS, 147 ; cil. 10, 17(J(i, 244. — Xacm. Vog. Deutsclil. VII. 



1836, 310, 111. 209. — ScilMic. liev. Ciit. 80. — jrAcfai.L. Man. IL 103. 

 Ascdhqmj: gallitwrjo, Kkv.s. & Bl.As. Wiib. Kur. 77. 

 ScoIujmj: coelestis, FliKNZEl., licsdi. Viig. Eicr (leg. Wittuiili. 18iil, TiS (cf. Stejxeger, Proc. U. S. 



Nat. Mus. Vol. 5, 1882, p. 3.".). 

 GalUniKjo malm, Lkacu. Syst. (.'at. 1816, 31. — Stepii. Gen. Zool. XIL 54. — Or.AV, Oon. B. III. 



583 ; Cat. liiit. T5. 1863, 173. — R I now. Xom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 526. — CouKs, Clieuk List, 



2d ed. 1882, no. 607. 

 Ocdlinngi) scohijMixiiins, Bonai'. Conip. List, 1838, 52. 

 Tehnalins sc/ilenlriumilis, stftgnnfilin, and fwrceniis, BiiEHM, Vug. Deutsclil. 

 1 Scolopa.r Drhnuol/I, JIatth. in Zoologist, 1852, 3720. 

 Cmamon Snipe, Yauu. Brit. B. cd. 2, III. 25, fig. ; ed. 3, III. 31, fig. ; et AucT. 



Hab. Patearetic Region ; fiequeut iu Greenland (cf. Reinhardt, "Ibis," 1861, p. 11), and 

 accidental iu the Benuudus. 



