SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.: DOWITCHEIl 
277 
“The bird springs up into the air on quivering down-curved wings 
and circles about, now lower, now higher, reaching at times a height 
of fifty or more yards. In the air it emits a short sweet trill, which is 
rapidly repeated, and with each song burst the wings are rapidly 
vibrated.” One that he watched remained in the air circling and 
trilling for five minutes, dropped to the ground only to continue trilling, 
rose again, to trill, and as he left the bog, followed him, still trilling 
(in Bent, 1927, p. 202). 
Additional Literature.—Job, H. K., Educational Leaflet 52, Nat. Assoc. 
Audubon Soc.— Nichols, J. T., and F. Harper, Auk, XXXIII, 244-245, 1916. 
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER: Limn6dromus griseus scolopaceus (Say) 
Description. — Length ; 11-12.5 inches, wing 5.4-6, bill 2.1-3 , tarsus 1.3-1.7. 
Adults in breeding plumage: Top of head and hind neck streaked brownish black and 
cinnamon, stripe over eye whitish, through eye, dark; upperparts mottled with black, 
brown, and buff in striking contrast to the white lower back, rump , and white, spotted, 
black-barred tail; wings with narrow , light bars; axillars and wing linings barred with 
brown and white; underparts deep cinnamon or 
tawny , specked on throat and barred on sides; iris 
brown, bill blackish, dark olive basally, legs and 
feet yellowish green. Adults in winter plumage: 
Line over e 3 r e, rump, and belly, white; upperparts Fig. 44. Long-billed Dowitcher 
grayish brown, marked with dusky, wings as in s ^ n 
summer. Young in juvenal plumage: Back and 
wings marked with black and clay-color, rump and tail as in adults; underparts 
except for whitish belly, bufTv or clay-color, with dusky spotting. 
Comparisons. —The Long-billed Dowitcher may be distinguished in all plumages 
from all other waders by its moderate size, long bill, white rump, and wing bars. 
Range. —Breeds from Alaska, Kuparuk River and Point Barrow, and Iranklin 
Bay, Mackenzie, south to Fort Anderson, Mackenzie, Lapierre House, Yukon, and 
Point Dali, Alaska; winters from California, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida south 
to Ecuador, Guatemala, Jalisco, and Lower California. 
State Records. —From their summer home in Canada, a few Long-billed 
Dowitchers migrate through New Mexico on the way to their winter home in Central 
America. One out of a flock was taken about 1855 in September on the Rio Grande 
near Fort Thorn (Henry), and one October 22, 1873, on the Mimbres River (New¬ 
berry). Two were taken April 7-9, 1892, on the New Mexico-Chihualiua line near 
Lake Palomas (Mearns). An adult male was taken, June 1, 1921, on the irrigation 
pond on the Mimbres River, 30 miles southeast of Silver City in a flock of about 75 
Western Willets (Kellogg). These arc the only records at present for the State, but 
although the species has been greatly reduced in numbers of late years, it is probable 
that a few still continue to visit New Mexico both in spring and fall migration. 
W. W. Cooke. 
Food.—W ater bugs, fly and dragon fly larvae, leeches, worms, snails, crabs, 
shrimps, soft mollusks, and seeds of aquatic plants. 
General Habits. —The white-rumped, Long-billed Dowitchers may 
be known by their “open flock formation when feeding,’ and their 
“swift erratic flight” (Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, 1918, p. 359). 
In southeastern Alaska, Mr. Alfred M. Bailey found them feeding 
