352 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



The Wilson Snipe, or Jack Snipe of the hunter, is the game bird 

 supreme wherever it is found. Its elusive habit of lying close and 

 flushing suddenly with swift erratic zig-zag flight and its delicacy of 

 flesh, make this at once the most difficult of pursuit and most highly 

 prized of all our shore birds. Snipe begin to appear in the lowlands 

 west of the Sierras rather late in the fall as compared with other 

 waders. Dates of first fall appearance in several localities are as 

 follows: Stockton, September 7, 1878 (Belding, MS); Hayward, 

 September 25, 1875 (Belding, MS) ; Santa Barbara, October 27, 1911 

 (Bowles and Howell, 1912, p. 7) ; Los Angeles, August 25, 1897 (speci- 

 mens in Swarth collection) ; and Hemet Lake, San Jacinto Mountains, 

 August 14, 1908 (Grinnell and Swarth, 1913, p. 227). In the spring 

 it departs rather early, the latest. records being: Mecca, Riverside 

 County, April 26, 1908 (C. H. Richardson, MS) ; Los Angeles, April 

 10, 1899 (Swarth collection) ; Santa Barbara, April 27, 1911 (Bowles 



Fig. 64. Side of bill of female Wilson Snipe. Natural size. 

 Note sense pits near tip of bill. 



and Howell, 1912, p. 7) ; Daggett, San Bernardino County, "through 

 April," 1911 (Lamb, 1912, p. 35) ; Los Baiios, Merced County, April 

 26, 1912 (specimen in Mus. Vert. Zool.) ; and Gridley, Butte County, 

 April 30, 1893 (Belding, MS). As the species has nested at Tejon 

 Pass, Kern County, birds seen at Weldon, Kern County, July 5, 1911 

 (specimens in Mus. Vert. Zool.), and to the east at Little Owens Lake, 

 May 6-11, 1891 (A. K. Fisher, 1893a, p. 22), cannot safely be con- 

 sidered as migrants. 



In winter the species occurs in suitable localities throughout the 

 state below the level of heavy snow. Some northern winter records 

 are : Bodega Bay, December, 1854 (Baird, Cassin and Lawrence, 1858, 

 p. 711), Shasta River, Siskiyou County, December, 1912 (specimen 

 in Mus. Hist., Sci. and Art) , Nevada City, Nevada County, November 

 2, 1872 (Nelson, 1875, p. 365) ; Owens Valley, "late December," 1890 

 (A. K. Fisher, 1893a., p. 22) ; Yermo, Mohave Desert, from October 

 22, 1910, through April, 1911 (Lamb, 1912, p. 35). 



From other waders the "Wilson Snipe may be distinguished by 

 its combination of moderately small size, long bill (fig. 64), longi- 

 tudinally streaked upper surface at all seasons and its conspicuously 



