WILSON'S SNIPE. 213 



wings in alighting, the simple notes are uttered rapidly, 

 and through an ascending scale of nearly an octave in the 

 shortest chromatic steps, the mellow tones being rather 

 loudest in the middle of the strain and gradually softening 

 to the closing and highest note, the whole performance 

 being after the manner of a swell in music. The notes 

 might be readily represented by the repetition of the sylla- 

 ble, koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo-koo- 

 koo; and though not decidedly musical, they have in them 

 the tenderness and inspiration of spring, readily associating 

 themselves with April showers, balmy atmospheres, spring- 

 ing grass, and that northern harbinger of spring-flora — 

 the blooming amelanchier^ 



Here and there, on the evening referred to, one might see 

 the Snipes alighting — dropping slowly and gracefully down 

 on a falling curve, their wings extending upward at an 

 angle of some ninety degrees. Generally they disappeared 

 among the bleached grass and sedges of the previous year 

 standing in several inches of water; but occasionally they 

 perched on old stubs, making an odd figure among the 

 gay Red-wings just greeting the newly-arrived females with 

 the merriest and sweetest of Blackbird songs. 



How vividly I recall the odd antics of the Snipes in the wild 

 meadow on the old paternal farm in Nova Scotia. How grati- 

 fying to childhood curiosity was it to hide away in the alder 

 bushes and watch him as he took his morning or evening 

 repast. See him walk — almost run — with nimble, easy steps; 

 his long bill — schnepfe — which, in the old Saxon language, 

 gave the bird its name, pointing obliquely forward and 

 downward, and his short tail somewhat thrown up. Now 

 he probes the soft mud, pushing his limber bill down half 

 its length or more, and testing almost every square inch 

 for quite a distance around, the delicate external membrane 



