46 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM. 



is due to changes of the weather, since a heavy rain, or a sudden 

 fall in the temperature will drive them away. 



The best time to shoot these birds is in cloudy and misty weath- 

 er, as they are then loth to leave their feeding grounds. On sun- 

 ny days very few snipe are to be found, since they generally 

 hide in sequestered places among bushes and high grass. Upon 

 the approach of night hundreds can be heard and seen going to 

 their favorite bogs. 



The great majority of the birds I have shot have the lores 

 deeply tinged with bright rusty color. I do not find this charac- 

 ter mentioned in the numerous ornithological works, though 

 Audubon's plate clearly shows it. 



Wilson's Snipe breeds from the northern United States to Hud- 

 son Bay. 



95. Macrorhamphus griseus (Gmel.). Dowitcher; Red- 

 breasted Snipe. 



This is one of the commonest waders on the coast, and is a 

 resident species, being found in small numbers in June, although 

 the birds that are here then are almost always in winter plumage. 

 The adults in worn breeding plumage arrive from the Arctic 

 regions as early as July 5, and are common by the 16th. They 

 disappear towards the last of the month or the first week in Au- 

 gust. The young then arrive in enormous flocks, being most 

 abundant between August 15 and September 1. The Red- 

 breasted Snipe begins to moult about March 15, and by April 

 28 most of them have acquired their beautiful breeding plumage 

 and are so fat that, when shot while flying, they burst open upon 

 falling on any hard object. This snipe is a very hardy bird and 

 is capable of enduring intense cold; indeed I have seen it 

 braving a temperature of 6° above zero. 



Like all the waders found on this coast, this species is a bird 

 of the tidal flats, feeding when the banks are uncovered and re- 

 sorting to the beaches or marshes at high tide. During the latter 

 part of April, and up to May 20, it is characteristic of the males 

 to soar high in the air with wings set and to sing their love-making 

 song. I have often seen the male pursue the female on wing 

 even at so low a latitude. 



These birds migrate to their breeding grounds in the far north 

 between May 1 and 15, and when the tide is low in the afternoon 



