Wilson’s Snipe
The average bird student knows the Snipe as a bird which springs from a marshy spot with startled scaip, scaip as it zigzags its way to a safe retreat, or mounts in the air to circle and return. At such a time the reddish brown band at the tip of the tail and the white belly, which flashes as the bird erratically turns, are good field-marks.
On its nesting-grounds the Snipe is a different creature. High overhead, in wide circles, the birds fly, giving forth strange windy hoots which they are said to produce by spreading widely the outermost feathers of the tail. When the performers come to earth they may perch on a wayside post, on a fence, or on a tree—an unheard-of feat for a Snipe at any other season. The male Snipe, and perhaps the female also, performs many queer antics during the nesting season.
The downy young, which leave their nests shortly after hatching, are beautiful creatures—dark brown and black with cream-colored and buffy spots and flecks which are arranged in a pattern which gives them a protective coloration. They are strong-legged creatures and can run rapidly and swim with ease as soon as they leave the nest.
The Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus griseus), a shore-bird which resembles the Wilson’s Snipe, is a rare migrant. It is pale rufous, speckled with black below, and variously mottled above in summer; in winter it is brownish gray above, white below, with a few dark barrings; in all plumages the rump and upper tail-coverts and tail are noticeably barred with black and white. Length: 10½ inches.
The rare Stilt Sandpiper (Micropalama himantopus) has long green legs, but otherwise looks rather like a Yellow-legs. In spring it has a red-brown patch on the face and heavily barred underparts; in the fall it is gray above, white below, with a few dusky spots on the breast. The upper tail-coverts in any plumage are white.
The Knot or Robin Snipe (Calidris canutus rufus), is a rare migrant also. It is dull rufous below in spring, and the upperparts are streaked and barred with black, white, and rufous. In winter it is gray above, with black and white barring on the upper tail-coverts; below it is white, with faint dark barring. The upperparts in winter have a scaly appearance as the result of light margins of the feathers. Length: 10½ inches.
PECTORAL SANDPIPER
Pisobia maculata (Vieillot)
Other Name.—Oxeye.
Description.—Smaller than Robin. Adults in summer: Upperparts black, the feathers margined with creamy buff, a distinct superciliary line of buffy white; rump and upper tail-coverts black, narrowly tipped with buffy; middle tail-feathers brownish gray, narrowly margined with white; underparts white, the neck and breast rather heavily but finely streaked with blackish and buffy brown. Adults in winter and immature: Similar, but the general appearance much more reddish brown. Length: 9 inches.
Range in Pennsylvania.—Recorded chiefly at Erie; a rather rare and irregular migrant in spring from March 20 to May 15; somewhat more common and regular in midsummer and fall, occurring from late July to late October, though it is highly probable that individuals do not remain in one place during this period. As nesting duties in the north are completed, the immature birds and adults in fresh plumage come south in flocks.
The shore-birds are not, as a rule, common in Pennsylvania. There are not many extensive mud-flats where they may feed, and many of the streams have been polluted, destroying the animal food. Erie is such an admirable resting and feeding-ground for such birds that many of them stop there after their flight across Lake Erie, then strike out to the southward, flying over most of Pennsylvania.