Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Science
Life histories of North American shore birds, Part 1 (of 2)
Bent, Arthur Cleveland
Birds -- Behavior; Shore birds -- North America
The _scape_ of the snipe has sufficient resemblance to the
woodcock's _peent_, which forms a part of the nuptial performance
of that species, to leave little doubt that the two are homologous
(that is, of the same derivation), if we assume snipe and woodcock
to be related. It is, however, more analogous (that is, of
corresponding place or purpose) with the wing twitter of the
woodcock. Its harsh quality is in keeping with the voices of
unrelated denisons of marsh and swamp, herons, rails, frogs, etc.,
and the discords of close-by bog sounds continually in its ears.
The quality of the snipe's call contrasts sharply with the
peculiarly clear, mellow whistle of the black-breasted plover, for
instance, and ringing calls of species of similar habit, with
carrying power over the open distances of their haunts. The
connecting series of limicoline voices, through the reedy calls of
such marsh-loving birds as the pectoral sandpiper, leaves little
doubt that there is a correlation between habitat and quality of
voice.
In some notes from Alaska, he writes:
July 17, on the slope of a low, gentle, tundra hill a little way
back from the shore, ahead of me a snipe fluttered up a short
distance, then down; up, then down; accompanying this performance
with _chup chup chup chup chup chew chew chew chew chew_. It
alighted in a comparatively open space with a couple of small bog
holes of water, surrounded with a circle of scrub willows, and here
I presently flushed it again. It rose with a _chape_ note, more
muffled and reedy than the ordinary Wilson snipe _scape_, and,
curving downwind, rose higher, attaining considerable elevation in
the distance, as I followed it with my glass. It now began to
zigzag up and down, maintaining approximately its position in the
sky to leeward. Meanwhile I heard an unfamiliar more or less
whistled _peep-er-weep_ once or twice, and an intermittent
winnowing sound, _wish wish wish wish wish_, etc. Being uncertain
as to whether these sounds came from the distant snipe, or from
some other bird closer at hand in the air, I took my glasses off
the former to look about me, and as I feared I should do, lost
track of it in the sky. Presently the winnowing ceased and I began
to hear a continuous harsh _cuta-cuta-cuta-cuta_ from over the brow
of the hill, which turned out to be a snipe, presumably the same
one which had returned, standing on top of the only stake
thereabouts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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