The Long-billed Dowitcher 



Description. — Adult in summer: Upperparts black, finely mottled and streaked 

 with pale cinnamon-rufous, and with some white; rump and upper tail-coverts white, 

 finely and heavily marked with broadly crescentic, blackish spots, and sometimes 

 tinged with ochraceous; tail barred with black and white, or the central feathers with 

 black and ochraceous; lesser wing-coverts light grayish brown; primaries dusky; the 

 greater wing-coverts and secondaries varied by white margining, shaft-marks and tips; 

 a chain of dark specks from bill to eye; belly whitish; remaining underparts rich cin- 

 namon, finely but not heavily speckled on sides of head and neck, and across breast 

 with blackish; thickly barred with the same on sides and flanks; axillars and lining 

 of wings white, striped and barred, or with V-shaped markings of dusky; bill and legs 

 greenish black. Adult in winter: Cinnamon-color and ochraceous entirely wanting; 

 upperparts, neck all around, and breast, broadly, grayish brown, well blended, but the 

 feathers with darker centers or shaft-marks; belly more broadly white; black-and- 

 white barring of tail-coverts as before, but dusky bars of axillars, sides, etc., duller — 

 grayish. Length 279.4-317.5 (1 1. 00-12. 50) ; wing 145.3 (5-72); tail 55.9 (2.20); bill 

 69.1 (2.72); tarsus 38.9 (1.53). Females average larger than males. 



Recognition Marks. — Robin size; pale cinnamon predominant above and rich 

 cinnamon below in summer; fine mottling of back in either plumage; long bill; mud- 

 probing habits; closely gregarious and non-secretive, as contrasted with Capella galli- 

 nago. The lengthened bill of this species is sufficient to distinguish it from Canutus 

 canutus, with which it offers a rough parallelism in color changes. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: A hollow in grassy hummock 

 or sphagnum, scantily lined, or not, with bits of grass. Eggs: 4; pointed ovate; 

 olive-buff or deep olive-buff, well spotted with brownish black, and with under-shell 

 markings of deep brownish drab. Av. size 41.9 x 27.9 (1.65 x 1.10). Season: June; 

 one brood. 



Range of Limnodromus griseus. — North and South America. Breeds on the 

 mainland in the middle high latitudes south to Yukon mouth; and winters from the 

 southern borders of the United States south to Brazil. 



Range of L. g. scolopaceus. — Western North America, and, perhaps, northeastern 

 Siberia. Breeds from northwestern Mackenzie southwest to the Yukon delta. Winters 

 from the Gulf States south to South America. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Macrorhamphus griseus), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 ser. 2, 1, 1849, p. 224 (along the coast); Howe, Auk, vol. xviii., 1901, p. 161, map 

 (migr., meas., plumage, etc.); Bowles and Howell, Condor, vol. xiv., 1912, p. 8 (Santa 

 Barbara; migr. dates). 



THE DOWITCHER is a sort of unsophisticated country cousin of 

 the Wilson Snipe. No doubt his flesh is just as good to eat, also, but his 

 manners are so unwary that his pursuit has, fortunately, never been rated 

 good sport. Dowitchers, indeed, are such friendly, sociable chaps that 

 I, for one, hope their names will never be removed from the protected list. 

 In lieu of a shocking record of slaughter, such as we had to contemplate 

 in the account preceding, I respectfully submit herewith a rather liberal 

 gallery of portraits, record shots some of them, which in every instance 

 left the birds unharmed and fully reassured. 



Viewed simply as sport, the author can recommend the photographic 



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