Field marks.—The dowitcher when standing is a fat, chunky bird, with short greenish legs and a very long bill, with which it probes perpendicularly. In flight it also appears stout and usually carries its long bill pointed slightly downward; in adult plumage it appears very dark colored. It has none of the slender appearance of the yellow-legs and its flight is steadier. When seen flying away from the observer the grayish white central band on its back is conspicuous, as are the black and white, barred tail feathers.
Fall.—The dowitcher is one of the earliest of the fall migrants; probably the first arrivals are birds that, for one reason or another, have failed to raise broods of young, for the time elapsing between the late-spring migration and the early-fall flight is not sufficient for successful breeding. The first adults arrive on Cape Cod early in July; my earliest date is July 4. Adults are common all through July, and I have seen them as late as August 16. The young birds come along later, from August 8 to September 25. While with us they frequent the mud flats and edges of muddy ponds or bays in the marshes; they are seldom seen on the sandy beaches or far out on the sand flats. They associate freely with the smaller sandpipers, least, and semipalmated, or with the semipalmated plover and turnstones. Often in the great flocks of these small sandpipers a number of dowitchers may be easily recognized by their much larger size and very dark appearance, also by their much longer bills. They are then often concentrated in compact groups or strung out in a long line, close to the edge of the water, probing in the soft mud with quick strokes of their long bills. They are easily approached at such times, as they are almost as tame and unsuspicious as the little peep. When the flats are covered at high tide these birds resort to the salt marshes or meadows, where they rest and sleep; in such places they often lie very close and flush singly, much after the manner of Wilson snipe.
Game.—Dowitchers, or "brown backs," as they are called on Cape Cod, have been popular game birds, and immense numbers have been shot in past years. Audubon (1840) says that "it is not at all uncommon to shoot 20 or 30 of them at once. I have been present when 127 were killed by discharging three barrels, and have heard of many dozens having been procured at a shot." Edward Sturtevant says that a market hunter near Newport, Rhode Island, shot 1,058 dowitchers during the years from 1867 to 1874. Their popularity and their tameness nearly caused the extermination of the species. Mr. John C. Cahoon (1888) wrote then:
They have decreased very fast during the last five years, and where we saw a flock of several dozens then we now see them singly or in bunches not exceeding 10 or 12. They are the least shy of any of the shore birds, and it is due to this fact that they have decreased so fast. They are easily decoyed, and although they fly swiftly their motion is steady and they keep closely together. They alight in a compact bunch, and the gunner usually shoots into them before they scatter out. Many are killed by a single discharge, and those that remain spring up with a sharp whistle and fly a short distance away, when hearing what they think to be the call of a deserted comrade they wheel about and come skimming bravely back to the murderous spot where they were first shot at. Again they are shot at, and again the remaining half dozen are loath to leave their dead and dying companions, and return to share their fate. One or two may escape, and as they drop silently down on some lonely sand spit, sad relics of their departed companions, what sorrowful thoughts must be theirs as they wait for their comrades that will never come.
Since that time the species has been saved by removing it from the game-bird list, and it has increased considerably until now it is again a fairly common bird. When flying in flocks it is too easily killed to offer the sportsman much of a thrill, but when flushed singly on the meadows it has more of a sporting chance for its life.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Chiefly eastern North America, islands of the Caribbean Sea and central South America; casual in Greenland, Alaska, the British Isles, and France.
Breeding range.—The dowitchers which have been found breeding in Alberta, from Little Red Deer River to Fort Assiniboine, are intermediate between griseus and scolopaceus, but nearer the former. Eggs have also been taken at Hayes River Flat and just south of Little Slave Lake, which are probably of this form. The breeding range of typical griseus probably lies between these points and the west side of Hudson Bay and perhaps extends north to the Arctic coast.
Winter range.—North to Louisiana (State game preserve, and Marsh Island) and probably rarely to North Carolina (Fort Macon). East to rarely North Carolina (Fort Macon); South Carolina (near Charleston, and Frogmore); Georgia (Savannah and Blackbeard Island); Florida (Amelia Island, Orange Hammock, and Bassenger); Bahama Islands (Great Inagua); Jamaica; Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe, Barbadoes and Grenada); Trinidad; and Brazil (Para and Bahia). South to Brazil (Bahia); and northern Peru (Tumbez). West to northern Peru (Tumbez); Colombia (Medellin); Cuba (Isle of Pines); western Florida (Key West, Fort Myers, Sarasota Bay, Tarpon Springs, and Pensacola); Louisiana (Marsh Island); and southern California.
Spring migration.—Early dates of spring arrival are: Virginia, Hog Island, April 15, Norfolk, April 17, and Locustville, April 25; New Jersey, Long Beach, May 6, New Brunswick, May 16; New York, Shinnecock Bay Light, May 15, and Long Island, April 19; Connecticut, Norwalk, May 15; Rhode Island, Newport, May 20; Massachusetts, Monomoy Island, May 1; Quebec, Green Island, May 25; Quebec, May 28, and Fort Chimo, June 10; and New Brunswick, Grand Manan, June 13.