SC0L0PACID2E — THE SNIPE FAMILY — RHYACOPHILUS. 
281 
gravelly bars along running brooks, and rarely appearing near the sea-coast. Tlie 
scarcity of clear rivulets in Southern California may be the reason why these birds 
are not found there, as they go much farther south in the interior in winter. l)r. 
Cooper has seen them in May on mountain streams in Santa Clara Valley, where 
they are supposed by him to have had nests. 
This species probably does not winter in any portion of the United States, and 
none are recorded after October. It was found in August by Mr. Dresser on a sand- 
bank in the Rio Grande, near Matamoras, and none were seen there at any other 
time. During April he often found them at the small pools and on the banks of the 
small streams near San Antonio. A single specimen is recorded as having been taken 
in August in Arizona. Mr. J. A. Allen noticed this species in Eastern Kansas in the 
early part of May, and found it there quite common. He again met with it during 
the second week in August at Lake Pass in Colorado, and in September in the Val- 
ley of Salt Lake. Mr. Ridgway also met with it occasionally in Utah and Nevada. 
It arrived in the Truckee Valley May 13, and was noticed in Parley’s Park in the 
Wahsatcli Mountains in August. It was much less numerous than Tringoides macu- 
larius. 
In Long Island, according to Giraud, it is not very abundant, yet by no means 
rare. It is distributed singly or in pairs along such creeks as are reached by the 
tide ; and is also observed about pools and rivulets more remote from the sea. It 
seldom visits the beach, and is very rarely met with in the salt-marshes on the bays. 
It often takes up its abode near the habitations of man, preferring his society to that 
of the numerous species of shore-birds frequenting the seaside. It is not considered 
game, and is not hunted, and thus becomes quite familiar. When nearly approached 
it flies but a short distance before it re-alights, to resume its occupation of probing 
the soft mud for worms and minute shellfish, which abound in its favorite haunts. 
It also resorts to decayed logs for the purpose of procuring grubs, and from this 
peculiarity of habit it is by some known as the “Wood Tattler.” When surprised it 
utters a sharp whistling note, raises its wings, and runs nimbly over the miry ground. 
If closely pursued, it retreats to the opposite side of the pond, arranges its feathers, 
and soon resumes its usual gentle manners. This bird is very active on the wing, 
and may sometimes be seen darting after winged insects, which it is very expert in 
catching ; and when flying, its long and gracefully curved wings add greatly to the 
effect of its neat plumage. It arrives on Long Island in May, and is not seen there 
after September. 
It passes its brief period of reproduction in the extended region north of latitude 
44°, but to what extent north is uncertain. Richardson met with a single individual 
at Great Bear Lake, in latitude 64° 30', May 14, 1826 ; and Mr. Dali noticed it at 
Nulato on about the same parallel. Mr. Ross found it common on the Mackenzie 
River, and Captain Blakiston observed it on the Saskatchewan Plains. It is found 
throughout the summer — or from May to September — in the neighborhood of Calais, 
Me., and Mr. Boardman has no doubt that it breeds there. Yet in the summer of 
1873, from May through June — as Mr. Brewster informs us — none of these birds 
were to be seen in the vicinity of Lake Umbagog; but in the latter part of July, 
when the migrations southward began, they appeared there in large numbers, appa- 
rently having come from a distance. He naturally inferred that few or none breed 
in that neighborhood. 
Wilson states that this species is found in the summer in damp meadows among 
our highest mountains, from Kentucky to New York, on the mossy margins of moun- 
tain springs. He found it unsuspicious, and permitting a near approach without 
vol. i. — 36 
