THE OOLOGIST. 



23 



and crissum, white. Front of wings 

 mottled with grey and white below." 



Of the Red-backed Sandpipers two 

 specimens were taken. There were 

 quite a number of that species there, 

 and very tame. They were in small 

 flocks. I believe it is a characteristic 

 of this species that they are not at all 

 wary of approach. The gi/zards of 

 these birds as well as that of the Pec- 

 toral Sandpiper contained small snails. 



While the account of these takings is 

 hereby recorded by myself, I desire to 

 to repeat that none of the credit is due 

 to me, as I was in another state on 

 each of the above dates. Mr. Percy 

 Smith of this place is entitled to the 

 credit, and if all of our bird-students 

 were as careful, thorough-going and 

 particular with each little detail as is 

 he, we would all know more about our 

 feathered friends than we do today. 

 I have merely assisted Mr. Smith in his 

 identifications. 



Neil F. Posson, 

 Medina, N. Y. 



P. S. — I have unintentionally over- 

 looked the fact that a Mr. Breed of 

 Lyndonville accompanied Mr. Smith 

 on these excursions to the lake, and he 

 is doubtless entitled to a share of the 

 credit. I desire to give credit where 

 credit is due. N. F. P. 



Breeding- of Wilson's Snipe in West- 

 ern New York. 



In Short's "List of Birds of Western 

 New York" the Wilson's Snipe, Gallin- 

 ago delicala, is reported as a migrant 

 and common in some localities, there- 

 fore it gives me pleasui'e to offer the 

 following data as evidences that Wil- 

 son's Snipe is at least a rare but prob- 

 ably a regular breeder. In my locality 

 they are common migrants, are occa- 

 sionally seen in mid-winter and a few 

 pairs remain to breed. My suspicions 

 that they were nesting in this locality 

 were first aroused in 1895 when I noted 



the birds ten miles north of hero in 

 Potter swamp as late r,s May 10, and 

 they were verified on the 21st of May, 

 189(5, when I found a nest in the side of 

 a hummock containing four eggs which 

 I have already noted in Vol. 1 No. 9 of 

 The Osprcy. I also had the pleasure of 

 collecting another set of four eggs on 

 May 12, 1897, by accidentally flushing 

 the female which tried to lead me away 

 from her nest by cutting up all sorts of 

 antics. At first I thought surely her 

 leg must be broken and when her wings 

 began to hang helplessly at her sides as 

 she fluttered around the hummocks, I 

 thought that the poor bird must be in a 

 dying condition' but when I stopped to 

 examine the nest and she suddenly 

 changed her tactics by running back 

 and forth before me, jabbing her long 

 bill regardless of its sensitiveness into 

 the wood, and excitedly pulling up 

 blades of grass meanwhile uttering a 

 plaintive sound. 



The nest was rather boldly situated 

 within a dozen feet of a much traveled 

 road that crosses the swamp. It was 

 placed under a wire fence in an open 

 grassy space where the water was about 

 two inches deep. It was scai'cely con- 

 cealed at all except by a few dead weed 

 stalks and the fresh green grass that 

 was just springing up around the nest. 

 The nest of Wilson's Snipe is generally 

 described as being a mere depression 

 scantily lined with grasses, but in this 

 instance there was no depression what- 

 ever but a shallow cupped nest built of 

 small weed stems and grass to a height 

 of three inches with a diameter of six 

 inches by actual measurement. The 

 eggs were about half incubated which 

 would indicate that about the first week 

 in May is the proper time to look for 

 fresh eggs. They are of a olive ground 

 color slightly tinged with grayish. The 

 spots are reddish-brown and form ''en 

 masse" on the large end and become 

 scarcer and smaller towards the smaller 

 ends and over all there is a few quite 



