.(Continued) 
Gallinago wilsoni 
- 
1890. Maine.- L. Urnbagog^ -, 
Oct.Shutter a low purring sound which was xisually answered by- 
most of the birds in the vicinity and sometimes by those on the 
opposite of the pond. This sound which I never heard before was 
A 
evidently a call-note. Although very different from the ordinary 
flight note ( scaipe ) it appeared to be really a modification of 
the—1-at.ler uttered in a low, measured, somewhat drawling tone. 
If^~hTOTre-~w-as curiously subdued'or muffled as if the bird's mouth 
was full of something, and it was difficult to tell from whence the 
A 
sound came. As our boat approached these fedding Snipebthey would 
stand erect , stretch up their necks to their utmost heightlook¬ 
ing at a distance very like a Plover, then at a given signal take 
wing all at once long before we were within gun-range. 
By using great caution we paddled to within less than twenty 
1 c 'J v-. tU— 
G0 ° :t ‘ a single bird and I watched through my glass at this dis¬ 
tance for over half an hour. Although T* was feeding busily 
during the whole of this time it did not' cover a space of 
more than ton yards. In fact it spent most of the time on three 
small spots each of which it explored with the utmost thoroughness 
often probing the ground a hundred times or more before taking 
another step. Where the mud was rather hard and not covered with 
water it fed much in the manner of a Sandpiper rarely driving its 
bill in ,more than half an inch and often picking up morsels from 
the surface the head bobbing up and down much like that of a Spar¬ 
row's when engaged in picking up seeds and so rapidly that I 
found it impossible to count the number of motions per minute. 
