96 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



grant in spring and fall, and is a moderately common winter 

 resident, more especially near the coast. At Bon Secour, Octo- 

 ber 20 to 25, 1908, I found a few snipe on the marshes; on 

 Petit Bois Island, February 12, and at Bayou Labatre, Feb- 

 r'uary 15, 1912, they were fairly common. In Greenbrier 

 Cove, near Whitesburg Ferry, I saw a single bird, November 

 8, 1916. About 10 were seen at Speigner Lake, December 13, 

 1916. During March and April, 1912, small numbers were 

 seen at Uniontown, Auburn, Jackson, Thomasville, and Leigh- 

 ton. Holt took specimens at Barachias. December 17, 1911, 

 and January 9, 1914, and records the last seen there in spring, 

 April 13, 1913. Golsan and Helt report the species very com- 

 mon during March and April in the marshy fields of Mont- 

 gomery County .f 



Dr. Avery shot specimens at Greensboro as early in the fall 

 as September 12 (1891), but the birds usually arrive in Octo- 

 ber and remain till the last of April (April 30, 1912, Leigh- 

 ton) . The height of the spring migration is early in March. 



General habits. — The jacksnipe frequents wet marshes 

 where the grass is short and low spots about cultivated fields. 

 It usually squats closely until the hunter approaches rather 

 near, when it springs up with a startled "scwpe" and for a 

 short distance flies in an erratic, zigzag course which affords 

 an attractive although rather difficult mark. Although the 

 marsh may be thickly populated, the birds usually flush singly 

 or at most in twos or threes, and often they will alight again 

 within a short distance. 



Food habits. — The food of the snipe, according to Forbush, 

 consists largely of insects, including grasshoppers, locusts, 

 cutworms, and beetles, with such others as may be picked up 

 from cultivated fields and marshes. Earthworms, leeches, 

 seeds of smartweed and other plants, together with roots and 

 other vegetable matter, have been found in their stomachs. 

 Enough is known of their food habits to place them among 

 the beneficial species.J 



tThe Auk, vol. 31. p. 219, 1914. 



iForbush, E. H., Game birds, wild-fowl, and shore birds, p. 252, 1912. 



