Food Habits of the Wilson Snipe. 7 



sort of platform. The cooks throw scraps of fish and other 

 refuse out upon the water, and the pelicans gather in flocks 

 about the kitchen to secure this food. They had become so 

 tame that while feeding upon the scraps they would allow 

 one to approach within ten or fifteen feet. It was an odd 

 sight to see this flock of wild pelicans, at such close quar- 

 ters, scrambling and tussling over the food. There was 

 much competition among them, and the younger and quicker 

 birds seemed to get most of the scraps, while the heavier and 

 older birds took whatever they could secure in the hurry and 

 bustle which occurred when a fresh can of scraps was thrown 

 in the water. Having finished the scaps, the pelicans would 

 fly far out in the bay, there to rest upon the water and bathe. 

 Some, apparently for pleasure only, would rise high in the 

 air, setting their wings and coming down in smooth, grace- 

 ful circles. Late in the afternoon, the greater part of the 

 Pelicans left the bay and disappeared up the coast line, 

 though a number of individuals were seen, at dusk, perched 

 upon the posts along the bay front, where they probably 

 lodged for the night. 



FOOD HABITS OF THE WILSON SNIPE. 



BY BENJ. T. GAULT. 



Are the feeding habits of the common "Jack," or Wilson 

 Snipe {Gallinago delicatd), so very well known ? 



Elisha J. Lewis in "American Sportsman," p. 197, in 

 speaking of the food and habits of this bird, remarks that 

 "their nourishment consists principally of worms and larvae, 

 which, like woodcock, they extract from rich loamy soil by 

 boring into it with their long and slender bills." " It was 

 formerly very generally believed by sportsmen, and others 

 who pretended to a knowledge of such matters, that snipe 



