200 PR^COCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



as somewhat similar to those of Microjxdama himantopus, and therefore inferentially 

 different from tliose of M. griseus. 



Mr. Dall mentions tlie M. scolopaceus as common about the mouth of the Eiver 

 Yukon, where the J/, f/riseus is spoken of as being very rare up that river. At 

 Nulato tliis same form is mentioned by Mr. Bannister as being quite common, 

 though not extremely abundant ; he found the nest of this Snipe on the 3d of June, 

 and on the 6th secured the parent with the eggs. The nest was a simj)le hollow 

 in the ground in a grassy hummock, in the centre of a marshy spot, with scarcely 

 any lining whatever ; there was nothing in the shape of a nest substantial enough to 

 be removed. The eggs were four in number, and Mr. Bannister describes them as of 

 a brownish color, mottled with a still deeper tint. The female when startled from 

 the nest shuffled off with great rapidity among the grassy hummocks, presenting a 

 very difficult mark to hit. Only one parent bird was seen. 



Dr. Cooper states that on the extensive level plains south of Los Angeles he found 

 this species quite abundant during the middle of October, 1865. He also observed that 

 bunches of them, unmixed with any other species, were sold in the town under the 

 name of " Jack Snipe ; " while the species commonly known bj^ this name, Actodromas 

 macidata, has not, to his knowledge, been met with south of San Francisco. The 

 present species was found frequenting the brackish lagoons and river-banks exclu- 

 sively, never appearing about the salt-marshes, which are the favorite places of resort 

 of the more nortliern and eastern form, the M. griseus. The birds kept in small 

 flocks, and alighted so close together, tliat several could be killed at a single shot. 

 They usually fed in water as deep as their long legs and liill would allow them to 

 wade in, probing the bottom. 



Mr. George N. Lawrence, in his paper first describing this form, read Jan. 7, 1849, 

 mentions that this bird is found abundantly on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico in 

 winter, that its principal migration is up the Mississippi Valley and farther west, 

 but that it is rare on the Atlantic coast. It is given by the same writer (" Birds of 

 Southern Mexico") as having been taken at San Mateo, Tehuantepec, in August and 

 February. Mr. Lawrence, in his Xotes on Cuban Birds (May 21, 1860) also refers to 

 a specimen sent to him by Dr. Gundlach from Cuba. He regards its rarity on our 

 coast, where the griseus is so very common, as furnishing further evidence of its 

 distinctness as a species. It makes its appearance quite early in the spring, and is 

 found in tlie Xew York market in April, fully three weeks before any of the more 

 common varieties are to be seen. And in this connection I may state that I have 

 received a fine specimen of a female shot on Cape Cod, Mass., as late as November 

 3, or long after all of the other variety had gone. 



Dr. Kennerly, in his Xotes on the Birds observed along the Mexican Boundary, 

 speaks of this species as very rare, and as having been only observed occasionally in 

 the valley of the Conalitos Eiver, and once in the Valley of the Peletado. A pair 

 were seen together, and both secured ; but no others were obtained. 



Eggs in the Smithsonian Collection, marked as having been obtained by Mr. Ban- 

 nister on the Island of St. Michael's, May 23, 1866, are larger than any eggs of the 

 griseus we have ever seen, measuring 1.80 inches in length, by 1.15 inches in breadth. 

 They have a ground of a well-pronounced rufous drab, blotched with much darker 

 markings of a deep shade of sepia brown. 



