256 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
enemies of mosquitoes, and feed upon many of the worst enemies of 
agriculture. “So great is their economic value that their retention in 
the game list and their destruction by sportsmen is a serious loss to 
agriculture” (McAtee, 1911a). 
From Western Handbook 
Fig. 43. Wilson Snipe 
SNIPES: Subfamily Scolopacinae 
WILSON SNIPE: Capella delicata (Ord) 
Description. — Length: 10.5-11.1 inches, wing 4.9-5.6, bill $>6-2.7, tarsus 
1.2-1.3, middle toe 1.1-1.3. Bill widened and sensitive at tip, tip of upper mandible 
over-reaching the lower. Adults and young in first winter 'plumage: Top of head 
with narrow buffy or whitish median stripe between 
broad black lateral stripes, bordered by pale supercil¬ 
iary stripes above dark eye stripes; upper parts varie¬ 
gated, dark brown, black , tan or buffy striped with light 
buffy or whitish, giving a lengthwise striped pattern to 
head and back; upper tail coverts dusky, central tail 
feathers black with broad subtenninal rufous bar and 
whitish tip; neck and breast streaked and spotted; belly 
white; under tail coverts buff, marked with blackish V’s; 
axillars and wing linings barred black and white; iris 
brown, bill greenish gray, blackish toward tip, legs and 
feet greenish gray. Young in juvenal plumage: Similar 
to adult but with considerable admixture of cinnamon. 
Range.— North America and northern South America. Breeds from north¬ 
western Alaska, northern parts of Yukon, Mackenzie, Manitoba, Quebec, and 
New Brunswick to Newfoundland and south to New Jersey (rarely), Illinois, South 
Dakota, southern Colorado, northern Nevada, southern and probably * Lower 
California; winters from southern interior of British Columbia, Montana, Colorado, 
Arkansas, and North Carolina south through Central America and West Indies 
to Colombia, Peru, and southern Brazil (winters casually and locally north to 
Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia). 
State Records.— Found breeding in 1875 by Aiken at the San Luis Lakes 
Colorado, it is possible that occasionally a pair of Wilson Snipe remain in northern 
New Mexico, but up to the present time the species is known in the State only as 
a migrant and as a rare winter resident. The first was seen August 11, 1913, at 
Lake Burford (Ligon); [several were seen near Albuquerque, August 18 1918 
(Leopold), and three seen, September 3, 1920, at lakes 4 miles north of Albuquerque 
(Ligon)], and by September 3, 1901, it was already common near Carlsbad (Bailey)* 
it was noted September 17-26, 1904, at the La Jara and Burford Lakes where one 
was taken September 17 that had completed its molt (Gaut). It. was noted Sep¬ 
tember 27-October 5, 1902, near Santa Rosa, and September 27, 1905, up to 8 000 
feet in the Bear Spring Mountains (Hollister); October 4 and 12,1913, near Koehler 
Junction, (Kalmbach); October 6, 1908, two at a small shallow lake in the Chuska 
Mountains at about 9,000 feet; and November 12, 1908, three near Farmington 
(Birdseye); November 25, 1893, one seen at Pinabettitos Creek, west of Clapham 
SctoJDmmborlllSffll, one was noted at Socorro (Merrill), and a pair December 
30 1893 January 9, 1894, at a spring hole near the river at Espanola (Loring). 
1 hese, of course, were wintering, and a few are said to have wintered on the Rio 
imbres (Henry). The species was observed throughout the winter of 1912-13 
on Alamosa River in Sierra County, and on Beaver Creek in the Gila Forest Reserve; 
