188 WADING BIRDS. 



The Snipe, almost nocturnal in its habits, conceals itself 

 with assiduity in the long grass, sedge, and rushes of its en- 

 swamped and boggy retreat. Aware of danger from the 

 approach of the sportsman, it springs at a distance with 

 great rapidity, uttering usually a feeble squeak ; and making 

 several inflections before it takes a direct course, it becomes 

 very difficult to shoot, and is more easily caught with a 

 snare or springe similar to that which is set for Woodcocks. 

 Being, deservedly, in high repute, as an exquisite flavored 

 game, great pains are taken, to obtain Snipes. In the 

 spring season, on their first arrival they are lean ; but in the 

 autumn, assembled towards the coast from all parts of the in- 

 terior, breeding even to the banks of the Mississippi, they are 

 now fat and abundant, and, accompanied by their young, are 

 at this time met with in all the low grounds and enswamped 

 marshes along the whole range of the Atlantic ; but ever 

 shy and dexterous, they are only game for the most active 

 and eager sportsmen. When on the wing, they may like 

 many other birds of this family, be decoyed and attracted 

 by the imitation of their voice. They are, like the Euro- 

 pean Snipe, which migrates to winter in England, by no 

 means averse to cold weather, so long as the ground is not 

 severely frozen, in such a manner as to exclude their feed- 

 ing ; so that e\en in Massachusetts they are found occa- 

 sionally down to the middle of December. They are no 

 where properly gregarious, but only accidentally associate, 

 where their food happens to be abundant. For this purpose 

 they are perpetually nibbling and boring the black marshy 

 soil, from which they sometimes seem to collect merely the 

 root fibres which it happens to contain, though their usual 

 and more substantial fare consists of worms, leeches, and 

 some long legged aquatic insects ; the Snipe of Europe also 

 seizes upon the smaller species of Scarahcsus. Their food, 

 no doubt, is mixed with the black and slimy earth they 



