Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS

THE PLOVERS, SNIPES, AND IMMEDIATE ALLIES

The Wilson's Snipe,

which is spread throughout the whole of North and middle America and the West Indies, but breeding only northward from the northern parts of the United States, is a bird about eleven inches in length, with the entire upper parts brownish black, barred, mottled, and bordered with various shades of cream-buff, while the throat is white, the neck and breast buff, indistinctly streaked with brownish, and the abdomen white, sharply barred with slate-color; the number of tail-feathers is usually sixteen.

This species mainly frequents low, wet meadows and boggy grounds, occasionally resorting to wet swales and springy thickets, but only rarely visiting the salt marshes. When flushed it rises from the ground with astonishing swiftness, uttering a series of hoarse scaipes, and goes off with an exceedingly swift but erratic and tortuous flight for a distance of some twenty yards, when its flight becomes more steady. It is very difficult to shoot on the wing, requiring experienced marksmanship and steady nerves, for one never knows which way it will turn.

Although not quite so nocturnal in its habits as the Woodcock, it is mainly active at night or in dark weather, and secures its food by probing in the soft ground. During the mating season it indulges in a series of aerial gymnastics, sometimes called”drumming”or”bleating,”an account of which we quote from Mr. Joseph Grinnell, who observed them in the Kowak Valley, Alaska. He was first attracted by a curious, far-off song, which he finally traced to a bird high up in the sky.”It was flying slowly in a broad circle with a diameter of perhaps 600 yards. 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 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. This curious song flight was kept up for fifteen minutes, ending with a downward dash. But before the bird reached the ground, and was yet some twenty 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.”The nest is the usual simple hollow in the ground, and is generally lined with a few grass blades or leaves; the eggs are four in number, and the color olive-brown or grayish drab, thickly spotted, mostly at the larger end, with chocolate. The flesh of the Wilson's Snipe is excellent eating, and it is in high favor with sportsmen, not only on this account, but from the skill required in securing it.

previous bird species next bird species