The snipe-census work on the breeding grounds of Ontario and the 
Maritime Provinces was continued this year under the direction of the 
Canadian Wildlife Service and Provincial game departments with Victor 
E. F. Solman compiling the results of the 1) counts. These are the 
most important quantitative data we have on the status of this species 
in North America, and since the major part of the breeding range of the 
Wilson's Snipe is in Canada it is there that expansion of breeding- 
ground counts should be greatest. 
Up to the present time neither the wodcock nor the snipe singing- 
ground-count method appears to have been tested for statistical reli- 
ability. It is hoped that statistical tests may be made of the data 
already obtained before the next breeding season. 
Important investigations on the wintering grounds of the woodcock 
in Louisiana were made by Phil Goodrum and Vincent H. Reid utilizing 
bird dogs to locate the birds. The bird dog has also been employed 
successfully by Logan Bennett and Bruce Wright in capturing woodcock 
for banding in the Maritime Provinces. Leslie Glasgow has been extraor- 
dinarily successful in capturing and banding large numbers of wodcock 
in their wintering areas in Louisiana by shining their eyes at night 
with a light worn on his head. No details of this work are yet avail- 
able. 
Wintering-ground inventories of Wilson's Snipe were also initiated 
this year by Chandler S. Robbins of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
in the most important wintering area in the United States, extending from 
southeastern Texas, eastward on the Guif coast, to the Mississippi Delta. 
There are other known wintering concentrations of snipe in Mexico which 
may represent major populations of this species and which should be 
measured annually. 
For the second year an important sample of the Clapper Rail breeding 
population was inventoried in the coastal marshes of eastern Virginia by 
Robert E. Stewart of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This gave, for 
the first time, quantitative data of a comparative nature which would be 
useful in the management of these rails. 
Following are the reports of the various investigators who compiled 
data on the Woodcock, Wilson's Snipe, and Clapper Rail during 1951. The 
names of all persons contributing data obtained in the field are listed 
with their contribution. It is hoped that each year will show further 
increase in participation by qualified persons who are in advantageous 
positions to obtain the information on population changes which is basic 
to sound hunting regulations and other wildlife-management practices. 
