
Tuck of that agency, stationed in Newfoundland, has contributed sub- 
stantially to the knowledge of the life history of the Common Snipe in 
the last few years. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a few research 
projects pertaining specifically to these species. One is "The Investi- 
gation of Woodcock Populations" which, up to the present, has consisted 
entirely of the bringing together of information supplied by cooperators 
and reported in the pages of this publication. Two others are "The 
Migration of the Common Snipe" and "Investigation of Snipe Populations," 
both of which are assignments of Chandler S. Robbins, who devotes roughly 
one-half of his time to these two snipe problems combined. Vincent Reid 
and Phil Goodrum, also of this agency, have made winter population 
studies of woodcock in Louisiana for several years, incidental to quail 
investigations. Coot depredations on rice crops in California are being 
studied by Adolph Zajanc of the U. S, Fish and Wildlife Service. Fred 
Glover of the same agency is studying methods of aging coots by external 
characters. Leaders of Cooperative Wildlife Research Units at Land 
Grant colleges, including Howard L. Mendall at the University of Maine, 
and William G. Sheldon at the University of Massachusetts, who are in 
the employ of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are actively con- 
ducting research personally and supervising students in research on 
basic woodcock problems, Closely associated with the Wildlife Research 
Unit at Pennsylvania State University is Prof. P. F. English, who 
organizes the cooperative woodcock breeding ground count in the central- 
eastern region. In addition to the Government agencies, a number of 
State Conservation Departments, which are mentioned by name the reports 
beyond, are contributing valuable manpower to the cooperative woodcock 
breeding ground count, In the State of Pennsylvania there is an active 
project on the woodcock headed by Stephen Liscinsky. In New Jersey 
there is a project on the Clapper Rail led by L. G, MacNamara. Louisiana 
State University is contributing significantly in the work on migration 
' of the woodcock through extensive banding on its wintering grounds by 
Leslie Glasgow and students. 
Out of all these studies has come much information needed in 
constructing our wildlife management charts for migratory game birds, 
particularly in the field of habitat requirements and population 
inventory methods. <A beginning has also been made on determining 
Migration patterns of woodcock, Untouched are the fields of hunting 
pressure, disease and other mortality factors for most of these species. 
SUMMARY OF 1956 INVESTIGATIONS 
Wocdcock Wintering Ground Studies.--Vincent Reid and Phil Goodrum 
of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, continued their winter popula- 
tion counts of woodcock in Louisiana with the use of bird dogs. leslie 
Glasgow and students at Louisiana State University continued their long- 
term banding and population studies in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, la. 
They invented an ingenious device for sexing wacodcock easily at night 
and in bad weather, It is a plastic tool which measures relative bill 
length. It is hoped that research on the methods of making population 
estimates on the wintering grounds can be expanded to sample all of the 
important woodcock wintering areas. Since these birds are much more 
concentrated at that time of year than during the breeding season it 
may turn out that a winter inventory is the most efficient method of 
appraising the annual status of this species. 
Zz 
