Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. 



we are expecting them, so !n September the sportsmen go to 

 look for them at dawn where they were the evening before in 

 numbers, to find that they have silently travelled southward 

 during the night. There is always the charm of the unexpected 

 about the snipe's appearance or disappearance. Like the wood- 

 cock, it is almost nocturnal in habits, because earthworms 

 come to the surface then. Coming out from under cover, 

 where it has dozed the best part of the day, to feed in 

 the open at twilight of morning or evening, it lies close 

 until flushed, when, springing upward from the grass almost at 

 the sportsman's feet, as if shot out of a spring trap, and startling 

 the novice out of a good aim by its hoarse, rasping scaip, scaip, 

 it stands a good chance of escaping, thanks to its swift zig- 

 zag course. 



Dowitcher 



{Macrorhamphus griseus) 



Calledalso: RED-BREASTED SNIPE (summer);QUAILSNIPE; 

 BROWN JACK; GRAY SNIPE (winter); DOWITCHEE; 

 BROWN BACK; ROBIN SNIPE; DEUTSCHER or GER- 

 MAN SNIPE. 



(Illustration facing p. i6i) 



Length — 9. 50 to 10.50 inches. 



Male and Female: In summer — Upper parts black, the feathers 

 edged or barred with rusty red, white, and buff; tail and 

 rump white barred with dusky ; lower part of back white, 

 conspicuous in flight; under parts rusty red, paler or white 

 below, more or less spotted and barred with dusky. Bill, 

 which is two inches long, is blackish brown. Legs and feet 

 greenish brown. In winter — General plumage brownish or 

 ashy gray; lower back white; rump and tail barred with 

 dusky and white; lower parts white, shading into gray 

 on breast. 



Range — Eastern North America, nesting within the Arctic Circle 

 and wintering from Florida to the West Indies and BraziL 



Season — Spring and autumn migrant; April, May; August and 

 September. 



Compact flocks of gray snipe, as they are called after the 

 summer moult has transformed them, migrating southward 

 along the sea coast in August and September, may be easily 



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