With the opening of a hunting season on Wilson's Snipe this year 
for the first time since 190, attention has focused on this species more 
than in the past. Particularly, emphasis has been placed on developing 
inventory methods and obtaining information on distribution and abundance 
so that the effects of the open season on the population might be ap- 
praised. In the snipe winter inventory investigations, attempts are 
being made to get as much date as possible from counts of birds in as 
many wintering areas as possible, and to group these data in various 
ways to learn facts about variatility and relative abundance of birds 
by areas. When these facts are determined it may be possible to plan 
the sampling of the winter populations on a satisfactorily stratified 
basis so that we may reasonably predict the limits of variability of the 
annual counts. Chandler S. Robbins of the Fish and Wildlife Service has 
borne the main responsibility for these investigations as well as for 
developing trapping techniques for banding. Results of this work appear 
in reports by Robbins. Most emphasis is being placed on the winter in- 
ventory since it is thought that the birds can be mre satisfactorily 
counted at that period when they are concentrated on relatively small 
areas, whereas in the breeding season they are scattered over a vast area 
across the northern part of the continent. However, if a sufficient number 
of banded snipe are recovered it may be possible to determine the relation 
of certain breeding grounds to certain wintering areas m that certain 
breeding-ground sampling may be effective. In the snipe breeding ground 
investigations, considerable progress has been made during the past 2 years 
in determining the variability of calling time and its correlation with 
position of sun and with weather conditions. This information will be in- 
dispensable if we are ever able to operate a breeding-ground inventory ex- 
tensive enough in its coverage to represent the bulk of the breeding popula- 
tion. As with the woodcock, we still have to work out methods of determin- 
ing annual production in advance of the hunting season. From all evidence 
available, there was little over-all change in the snipe populations between 
1952 and 1953. 
New investigations which have been initiated this year have to do with 
working out methods of aging snipe and wodcock for use in hunter=bag checks. 
Allen J. Duvall of the U. 5S. Fish and Wildlife Service is heading this line 
of investigation. If a practical method is wrked out it will be possible 
to appraise the reproduction for that year from the age ratios. Results of 
investigations along these lines as well as in sex determination were pub- 
lished this year by Frederick Greeley (Jour. Wildl. Mgt. 17: 29-32). 
Investigations of any species of rail seem to be few and far between. 
A study of, the sora incidental to waterfowl work by Hal M. Boeker in 
Colorado is reported briefly in this issue. Robert E. Stewart of the 
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the clapper-rail population 
and breeding conditions for the fourth year on the special study area for 
this species at Chincoteague, Va. Little change was found in the nesting 
population from last year, which was relatively good. A study is being 
made of variation in clutch size in this gmecies from north to south in the 
Atlantic coastal marshes, and seasonal variation in the same year is noted. 
A report on the migration of this species wrked out from banding records 
has been completed and submitted for publication elsewhere. 
