198 
PR2EC0CIAL GRALLATORES — UMICORE. 
This species is found in suitable places throughout the interior of the continent, 
both in the spring and fall migrations. It is more or less common at Lake Kosko- 
nong, Wisconsin, where, about Aug. 15, 1873, it was found in unusually large num- 
bers by Mr. Kumlien. It is included by Mr. H. W. Parker in his list of the birds 
occurring near Grinnell, la. Mr. J. A. Allen found it quite common in Great Salt 
Lake Valley after the 25tli of September. 
Richardson speaks of it as a species well known throughout the Fur Country, 
having an extensive breeding-range from the borders of Lake Superior to the Arctic 
Sea. Individuals killed on the Saskatchewan plains had their crops filled with 
leeches and fragments of Coleoptera. Reinhardt includes it among the birds of 
Greenland, a single specimen having been taken at Fiskernaes in 1854. 
Mr. Dresser noted the arrival of this Snipe from the north at a lagoon near Mata- 
moras, as early as June 29, 1863. From that time onward it continued to arrive, 
some migrating farther south, but a considerable number remaining in the neighbor- 
hood. He obtained them in both the red and the gray plumage, and they were very 
numerous both in July and August. They moved in flocks of from ten to thirty, and 
seemed to be more nearly related to the Sandpiper than to the Snipe in their habits. 
He invariably found them on the shores of the lagoons, and often in company with 
the Sandpipers, especially the Stilt Sandpipers ; but never in the same localities with 
Wilson’s Snipe. 
We are informed by Mr. B.oardman that this species probably breeds in the neigh- 
borhood of Calais, where it is occasionally seen throughout the summer. In the 
winter he has found it very numerous in Florida, where it goes in large flocks, and 
where he once killed thirty at a single shot. 
According to Mr. Moore’s observations, some of these birds are found in Florida 
also, throughout the summer, though none of these breed there. Scattered individ- 
uals of this species were seen by him on the Sarasota Bay during every month of the 
year ; but those that are thus resident do not assume the summer plumage. Others 
were noticed there, both when leaving in the spring and arriving in autumn, ten of 
the latter being seen as early as July 10 in very fine summer plumage. Those that 
remain throughout the year do not appear at all like these in beauty of coloring, 
only exhibiting on the wing-coverts and upper parts, here and there, a slight touch of 
rufous. 
This bird has, in a number of instances, been taken in Europe, especially in Great 
Britain, where six or more specimens have been singly secured. One captured in 
Sweden was described and figured by Nilsson as a new species. On Long Island 
Giraud states that this Snipe is known to the hunters by the old provincial name of 
Do witcher. It reaches the shores of that island about the close of April, and there 
resorts to the mud-flats and shoals. At liigli-tide it retires to the boggy meadows, 
where it probes the soft ground for worms. The stay of this bird in the spring is 
short; but about the middle of July it returns with its young, and remains until the 
end of September. It has a very peculiar whistling note, and one that is easily imi- 
tated by hunters, so as to deceive and attract the bird, which is noted for its unsus- 
picious character. This Snipe is fond of resorting to the freshwater ponds which 
stand on the low parts of the meadows during the wet season, and such situations 
are favorable for its capture. Concealed in the rank grass which grows on the salt 
meadows, the hunter, when he hears the notes of a passing flock, utters a shrill 
whistle in imitation of their peculiar cry, this being pretty sure to attract the 
birds. Flying close together and hovering over the flock of decoys, they are easily 
shot ; and it not unfrequently happens that those which escape the first fire return 
