(Stuttgart); probably Kentucky (Hickman); and rarely, North Carolina
(Raleigh). East to rarely North Carolina (Raleigh); South Carolina
(Charleston); and Florida (Gainesville, Fruitland Park, Lake Harney, and
Orlando). South to Florida (Orlando, Panasoffkee Lake, and Tallahassee);
Alabama (Autauga County); Mississippi (Biloxi); Louisiana (Covington,
Abbeville, and Mermenton); and southern Texas (Beaumont and Victoria).
West to Texas (Victoria, Hallettsville, and Jefferson).
Casual in winter north to Illinois (Mount Carmel); Indiana (Vincennes);
Ohio (New Bremen); Virginia (Falls Church); Maryland (Mardela); New
Jersey (Cape May, Haddonfield, and Plainfield); New York (Sing Sing and
Collins); Connecticut (Bridgeport, New Haven, and New London County);
and Massachusetts (Boston).
_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are District of Columbia,
Washington, February 6; Maryland, Barron Springs, February 5, and
Mardela Springs, February 14; Pennsylvania, Carlisle, February 27,
Nauvoo, March 4, Waynesburg, March 5, Port Province, March 7, Columbia,
March 9, Bristol, March 10, Norristown, March 11, Renovo, March 13,
Harrisburg, March 14, Philadelphia, March 15, Chambersburg, March 18,
Coatesville, March 21, and Erie, March 23; New Jersey, Maurice River
Light, February 15, Plainfield, February 22, Englewood, February 23, and
Morristown, February 28; New York, Middletown, March 1, New York City,
March 10, Shelter Island, March 10, Orient Point, March 12, Great West
Bay Light, March 12, Branchport, March 13, Stephentown, March 17,
Lansing, March 20, and Virgil, March 21; Connecticut, Portland, February
15, Plantsville, February 24, Bridgeport, February 27, Norwich, March 1,
Middletown, March 3, Unionville, March 10, and Fairfield, March 14;
Massachusetts, Groton, February 22, Rockdale, March 8, East Templeton,
March 11, and Rehoboth, March 15; Vermont, Rutland, March 7, and
Hydeville, March 25; New Hampshire, Monadnock, March 14, Manchester,
March 20, Peterboro, March 25, and Durham, April 1; Maine, Portland 13,
Farmington, March 16, Augusta, March 23, East Hebron, March 25,
Ellsworth, March 28, Lewiston, March 29, and Norway, April 5; Quebec,
Quebec, April 4, Neilsonville, April 15, and Montreal, April 21; New
Brunswick, St. John, March 21, Scotch Lake, March 29, and St. Andrews,
April 3; Nova Scotia, Halifax, March 10, and Wolfville, March 21;
Tennessee, Nashville, February 28, and Athens, March 1; Kentucky,
Eubank, February 15, Versailles, February 29, and Alexander Station,
March 15; Illinois, Odin, February 23, Quincy, March 3, Shawneetown,
March 4, Evanston, March 13, Olney, March 13, Rockford, March 15,
Fernwood, March 20, and Chicago, March 22; Indiana, Holman, February 16,
Frankfort, February 16, Bicknell, February 16, Waterloo, March 1, Terre
Haute, March 1, Red Key, March 9, Sedan, March 9, and Greencastle, March
10; Ohio, Cleveland, February 21, New Middleton, February 26, Hillsboro,
March 2, Granville, March 7, East Rockport, March 8, Columbus, March 8,
Oberlin, March 10, Lakewood, March 11, Sandusky, March 13; Michigan,
Petersburg, March 2, Battle Creek, March 9, Ann Arbor, March 17,
Detroit, March 24, and Norvell, March 31; Ontario, London, March 30,
Dunneville, March 21, Toronto, March 25, Yarker, March 29, St. Thomas,
March 30, and Sault Ste. Marie, April 3; Iowa, Keokuk, March 12, Mount
Pleasant, March 13, and Hillsboro, March 15; Wisconsin, Racine, March
25, Wauwatosa, March 26, and Milwaukee, March 24; Minnesota, Leech Lake,
March 30; and Kansas, North Topeka, March 21, and Lawrence, April 17.
_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Kansas, North
Topeka, December 3; Minnesota, Hutchinson, November 3; Wisconsin,
Greenbush, November 2, and Delavan, November 6; Iowa, Sigourney,
November 3, Keokuk, November 16, Grinnell, November 27, and Ogden,
December 30; Ontario, Guelph, October 30, Ottawa, October 31, St.
Thomas, November 2, Plover Mills, November 5, Dunnville, November 6, and
Toronto, November 11; Michigan, Manchester, October 19, Vicksburg,
November 2, Livonia, November 11, and Ann Arbor, November 20; Ohio,
Sandusky, November 1, Huron, November 2, Kingsville, November 7,
Cleveland, November 8, Austinburg, November 10, and Grand Reservoir,
November 15; Indiana, Roanoke, November 10, and Greensburg, November 10;
Illinois, Lake Forest, October 20, Odin, October 28, La Grange, November
8, and Rantoul, December 6; Kentucky, Bardstown, November 18; Nova
Scotia, Pictou, October 29, Halifax, November 6, and Yarmouth, November
15; New Brunswick, St. John, November 13; Quebec, Montreal, November 4;
Maine, East Hebron, October 20, Skowhegan, October 26, Lewiston, October
27, Waterville, October 30, Winthrop, November 4, and Westbrook,
November 23; New Hampshire, Tilton, October 22; Vermont, Rutland,
November 3; Massachusetts, Rockdale, November 5, Boston, November 20,
Watertown, November 29, and Cambridge, December 8; Connecticut,
Middletown, November 16, Meriden, November 23, Hartford, November 24,
New Haven, November 26, and Portland, November 28; New York, Shelter
Island, November 10, Stephentown, November 16, Plattsburg, November 20,
Brooklyn, November 25, Wyandance, December 1, and Lawrence, December 8;
New Jersey, Camden, November 8, Demarest, November 17, Englewood,
November 24, Mahwah, November 26, Morristown, November 29, and
Bloomfield, November 30; Pennsylvania, Renovo, October 23, Erie,
November 14, Beaver, November 28, and Berwyn, December 6; Maryland,
Barron Springs, November 27, and Cumberland, December 12; and District
of Columbia, Washington, December 30.
_Casual records._--The woodcock has been detected outside of its regular
range on a few occasions, as follows: Bermuda, Hamilton, October 1842
and probably one at Hungry Bay, a few years later; Keewatin, York
Factory, last of August; northern Saskatchewan, Black River, August,
1892; and Montana, Billings, October 23, 1917.
_Egg dates._--New York: 20 records, April 4 to May 29; 10 records, April
11 to 25. Pennsylvania and New Jersey; 22 records, March 23 to May 1; 11
records, March 30 to April 17. Indiana and Illinois: 26 records March 26
to May 30; 13 records April 15 to 28. North Carolina: 2 records February
18 and March 29. Texas: 1 record January 20.
CAPELLA GALLINAGO GALLINAGO (Linnaeus)
EUROPEAN SNIPE
HABITS
The European bird is so closely related to, being regarded now as only
subspecifically distinct from, our Wilson snipe that I shall not attempt
to write its full life history. The two birds resemble each other so
closely in all their habits that this would involve useless repetition
of much that I have written about the American bird.
The European snipe owes its place on our list to its occurrence,
probably casually, in Greenland. There is a specimen in the British
Museum that is supposed to have come from Canada, but its history is
doubtful. The snipe that breeds in Iceland and the Faroe Islands has
been separated, under the name _faeroeensis_, as subspecifically
distinct from the bird breeding in Great Britain and in continental
Europe. It seems quite likely that the Greenland records should be
referred to this form.
_Courtship._--Much study has been given to this subject by European
observers and differences of opinion still exist as to how the curious
winnowing sound or bleating is produced. While the normal time for
hearing this is during the spring months, it has been heard in February,
during the summer and even occasionally in the fall. Rev. Henry H.
Slater (1898) writes:
Opinions differ widely as to the means by which this curious sound
is produced. Meves declared that the tail feathers were the
instrument, and claimed to have produced it artificially by the
snipe's tail feathers fastened to the end of a long stick and swung
through the air. Others hold that the tremulous motion of the tense
wing feathers is the agency; a third theory is that the sound is
vocal. The reader is at liberty to take his choice. I incline to
the last, from analogy. I have seen the great snipe go through
exactly the same evolutions at the nest, including the tremulous
wings on the descending movement, and in perfect silence; I have
watched the wood, the green, the broad-billed sandpipers, the
Kentish plover, Temmick's and the little stint, and the red-necked
phalarope, go through the same movements also at the nest, but in
these cases the noise which accompanied the descending stage of the
performance was unmistakably vocal.
Dr. Leonhard Stejneger (1885) was also much inclined to the vocal theory
when he wrote:
Not only this power of the sound, but even more so the nature of
the tune itself convinced me that it originates from the throat and
not in any way either from the tail or the wing feathers, as
suggested by many European writers. It is true that the wings are
in a state of very rapid vibration during the oblique descent when
the note is uttered, but this circumstance does not testify only in
favor of the theory of the sound being produced by the wing, as the
vibration most conclusively accounts for the quivering throat
sound. Anybody stretching his arms out as if flying, and moving
them rapidly up and down and simultaneously uttering any sound is
bound to "bleat." Having heard, however, from my early days, of the
wing or tail theories as the only orthodox ones, I did not feel
convinced of the correctness of my own opinion until one evening I
heard another bird of the same family produce a very similar note
_while sitting on the ground_. Referring to the observation
recorded under _Arquatella couesi_, I here only remark that the
sound was so similar as to leave no doubt whatever in my mind that
it had a similar origin in both cases. It may be that a snipe has
never been observed bleating on the ground, but the fact that a so
nearly allied bird is capable of producing essentially the same
sound while in that position is an argument in favor of the more
natural explanation of the sound originating from the organ which
in almost all other instances is adapted to that purpose.
John M. Boraston (1903) gives an excellent account of this nuptial
flight, as follows:
Another bird which the buoyant spirits of the breeding season urge
into unusual prominence is the common snipe. About the pairing
time, at the beginning of April, he may for some weeks be observed
on the wing frequently throughout the day. At such times he
describes great circles in the air at a considerable height, the
rapidly beating wings carrying him round at a high speed. At
regular intervals during this great circling flight the wings are
laid out flat, the one inside the great circle the bird is
describing being tilted up and that outside depressed. At the same
moment the tail feathers are opened out so that the sky may be seen
between them as between the fingers of an open hand. Immediately
the wings and tail are so set, the tips of the former begin to
vibrate, the tail feathers remaining rigid, and the bird strikes
off at a tangent, curving outward and slipping downward from the
normal path of its circular flight. It is this recurring tangential
deviation which causes the circle of the snipe's flight to become
so vast.
During the outward curving, downward flight the snipe's strange
humming note is heard, synchronizing precisely with the vibration
of the tips of its wings. The bill is closed when the note is being
emitted. The bird's great circular flight is thus made up of two
subordinate flights--the plain flight and the humming flight--in
regular succession. After having described three or four great
circles, the snipe reverses its course and proceeds in the opposite
direction; but it is to be observed that in its "humming" flight it
still works always on its "outer edge," the wing outside the great
circle being invariably the one to be depressed and the one upon
which the bird turns in performing the tangential, outward curving,
downward flight. The sound made by the snipe may be nearly imitated
by laughing in the throat with the lips closed, and associates
itself in my mind with that made by the puffin when returning laden
with fish to his burrow. It is like hollow, mirthless laughter; the
expression of a wild earnest joy by sounds which to human ears seem
mournful rather than joyous, and therefore unnatural, uncanny,
weird. The snipe has another amusing trick in flight; he will
suddenly jerk himself to one side, throw his wings halfway back,
and allow himself to fall like a lopsided shuttlecock, until, as
suddenly recovering himself, he sets off again on his circular
career.
Seton Gordon (1915) gives the following good description of the snipe's
tail, by which the sound is probably made:
The tail feathers of the snipe are of so peculiar formation that it
may be well to give here a description of them: In the first outer
tail feather the shaft is exceptionally stiff and shaped like a
saber. The rays of the web are strongly bound together and are very
long--the longest, in fact, reaching nearly three-quarters of the
whole length of the web. The rays lie along the shaft of the
feather like the strings of a musical instrument. Other species of
snipe possess four drumming feathers, and one species has no fewer
than eight. The drumming feathers of the hen snipe are not as
strong as those of the male.
_Eggs._--The European snipe normally lays four eggs, rarely five. These
are indistinguishable from eggs of our Wilson snipe. The measurements of
100 eggs, furnished by Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain, averaged 39.4 by 28.7
millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =42.7= by 29,
39.3 by =30.3=, =35= by 28.4 and 36.3 by =26.7= millimeters.
_Young._--The period of incubation is about 20 days. Several observers
have reported seeing the snipe carry off her young between her legs, as
the woodcock is known to do.
Mr. Gordon (1915) writes:
Although eminent authorities have stated that a snipe with a brood
by her feigns lameness to distract attention, I have never found
this to be the case, the bird invariably flying off as she does
when sitting on her eggs.
One warm July day I witnessed a very charming spectacle in a field
bordering on a wide expanse of moorland. A kindred ornithologist
and myself were seated at the edge of a wall overlooking the field
when he became aware that a snipe was standing fearlessly in the
long herbage a few yards from us. As we watched her, the bird came
forward, and disappeared among some rushes bordering the wall. For
the space of a minute or so she remained hidden, and we thought
she had gone there to shelter, but presently she emerged from her
obscurity, and following her closely were two small chicks. By
comparison with the green grass these little people appeared
almost black, so dark was their downy plumage. Their mother
realized that danger was near, for she led them quickly away, but
never turned to see whether her children were following her. They
kept their position close behind her, although the pace for them
was a quick one, and they were soon lost to sight behind a ridge.
One realized how wonderfully obedient the chicks were: they were
left in the rushes at the approach of danger, their mother having
evidently enjoined them to remain concealed and without movement
until she returned for them.
_Behavior._--An interesting account of the habits of a tame snipe,
reared in captivity, is published by Hugh Wormald (1909) to which I
would refer the reader.
DISTRIBUTION
_Breeding range._--Much of Europe and Asia. From Great Britain and
Scandinavia (up to 70° N.) throughout northern Europe and Siberia.
South, mainly in the mountains, to the Pyrenees, Alps, northern Italy,
southern Russia, Turkestan, Yarkand, and southeastern Mongolia. A few
breed in the Azores, northwestern Africa, and India. Replaced by allied
forms in Iceland, the Faroes, in tropical Africa, and in northeastern
Asia.
_Winter range._--Great Britain, the Mediterranean basin, Madeira,
Canaries, Azores, Africa (south to Senegambia on the west and Abyssinia
on the east), Arabia, Sokotra, southern Asia, Japan, Borneo, Formosa,
and the Philippine Islands.
_Casual records._--The only North American record, a specimen said to
have been taken in Canada, is very doubtful. This and the Greenland and
Bermuda records are probably referrable to the Iceland form,
_faeroeensis_.
_Egg dates._--Great Britain: 70 records, March 3 to August 21; 35
records, April 29 to May 25. Iceland: 16 records, May 10 to June 6; 8
records, May 26 to June 3.
CAPELLA GALLINAGO DELICATA (Ord)
WILSON SNIPE
HABITS
The above species, with its several varieties, enjoys a world-wide
distribution and is universally well known. The American subspecies is
widely distributed from coast to coast and occurs more or less commonly,
at one season or another, in nearly every part of North America. It was
formerly exceedingly abundant, but its numbers have been sadly depleted
during the past 50 years by excessive shooting. Alexander Wilson first
called attention to the characters, size, and number of tail feathers,
which distinguished our bird from the European. But they are so much
alike that it seems best to regard them as subspecies, rather than as
distinct species.
_Spring._--The snipe is an early migrant, leaving its winter quarters
just below the frost line, just as soon as the northern frost goes out
of the ground, about as early as the woodcock. When the warm spring
rains have softened the meadows, when the hylas have thawed out and are
peeping in the pond holes, when the cheerful _okalee_ of the redwings is
heard in the marshes and when the herring are running up the streams to
spawn, then we need not look in vain for the coming of the snipe. Low,
moist meadow lands, or wet pastures frequented by cattle, are favorite
haunts, where their splashings and borings are frequently seen among the
cow tracks. They are also found in high, bushy, wet pastures, or in the
vicinity of spring-fed brooks among scattered clumps of willows,
huckleberries or alders.
_Courtship._--On the wings of the south wind comes the first wisp of
snipe, the will-o-the-wisp of the marshes, here to-day and gone
to-morrow, coming and going under the cover of darkness. All through the
spring migration and all through the nesting season we may hear the
weird winnowing sound of the snipe's courtship flight, a tremulous
humming sound, loud and penetrating, audible at a long distance. One is
both thrilled and puzzled when he hears it for the first time, for it
seems like a disembodied sound, the sighing of some wandering spirit,
until the author is discovered, a mere speck, sweeping across the sky.
The sound resembles the noise made by a duck's wings in rapid flight, a
rapidly pulsating series of notes, _who, who, who, who, who, who, who,
who_, increasing and then decreasing again in intensity. It has been
termed the "bleating" of the snipe, but this does not seem to describe
it so well as "winnowing." J. R. Whitaker, with whom I hunted snipe in
Newfoundland, told me that both sexes indulge in this performance and
George M. Sutton (1923) suggested the possibility of it.
Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1900) gives the best account of this courtship
flight, as follows:
I was in a broad grassy swale, studded here and there with scrub
spruces and bordered by taller timber, when my attention was
attracted by a curious far-off song which puzzled me for some time.
Finally I descried the producer, a Wilson's snipe, so far overhead
as to be scarcely discernible against the clear sky. It was flying
slowly in a broad circle with a diameter of perhaps 600 yards, so
that the direction of the sound was ever shifting, thus confusing
me until I caught sight of its author. This lofty flight was not
continuously on the same level, but consisted of a series of
lengthy undulations or swoops. At the end of each swoop the bird
would mount up to its former level. The drop at the beginning of
the downward dive was with partly closed, quivering wings, but the
succeeding rise was accomplished by a succession of rapid wing
beats. The peculiar resonant song was a rolling series of syllables
uttered during the downward swoop, and just before this drop merged
into the following rise a rumbling and whirring sound became
audible, accompanying the latter part of the song and finishing it.
This curious song flight was kept up for 15 minutes, ending with a
downward dash. But before the bird reached the ground and was yet
some 20 yards above it there was apparently a complete collapse.
The bird dropped as if shot for several feet, but abruptly
recovered itself to fly a short distance farther and repeat this
new maneuver. By a succession of these collapses, falls,
recoveries, and short flights the acrobatically inclined bird
finally reached the ground, alighting in the grass near me.
All of the early American writers, and many others since then, supposed
that the winnowing sound was made by the bird's wings, although many
European observers long ago argued that it was made by the two pairs of
outer tail feathers, which are widely spread and held downward at right
angles to the axis of the body during the downward swoops and vibrate as
the air rushes through them. W. L. Dawson (1923) says that--
the body of the sound is produced by the impact of the air upon the
sharp lateral feathers of the tail, held stiffly, while the
pulsations of sound are produced by the wings. At least it is
certain that the pulsations of sound are synchronous with the wing
beats. The sound begins gradually, as while the tail is expanding,
and closes with a smooth diminuendo as the tail is closing and
while the wings are sailing.
N. S. Goss (1891) gives a different account of the courtship, as
follows:
In courtship, the male struts with drooping wings and widespread
tail around his mate, in a most captivating manner, often at such
times rising spiral-like with quickly beating wings high in air,
dropping back in a wavy graceful circle, uttering at the same time
his jarring cackling love note, which, with the vibration of the
wings upon the air, makes a rather pleasing sound.
Mr. Sutton (1923) noted some peculiar flight performances, which may be
connected with the courtship; he says:
On April 29 two birds were repeatedly flushed together; not always
the same two individuals necessarily, I presume, and not certainly
of opposite sex. But these birds often sailed gracefully over the
cattails, in wide sweeping undulations, with wings set in a manner
suggesting chimney swifts, a type of flight totally different from
any previously observed. The same stunt was many times observed in
the male bird of the pair whose nest was located. In fact this type
of display, if it were display, was so common that the usual
twitching, erratic flight was only rarely seen. I have wondered if
this may not have been a pair of birds, possibly recently mated,
though not actually nesting there.
On May 3, in a portion of the swamp near town, a new antic was
observed. A snipe, subsequently determined as a male, sprang up
close at hand, and after a few energetic, direct wing beats, put
his wings high above his body and, describing a graceful arc,
dropped toward the ground, his legs trailing, only to rise again
to repeat the performance. Never during this exhibition did he
actually touch the ground with his feet, so far as I could see,
but it gave that impression. He was clearly excited, and I now
know that such antics are a certain indication of nesting
activity. At such times the male gave forth several short notes
which may accurately be termed "bleats." Occasionally the bird,
after performing this novel antic would drop to the grass some
distance away, and then fly up after a time, considerably nearer
me, making it evident that he was attempting to lure me away. Then
again, after trying these antics for a time, he would suddenly
mount to the sky, and there would follow a season of the weird
wind music--always delightful.