WILSON'S SNIPE. 215 



wheezing and moaning in the most distressed manner, I 

 would scramble and strive to my utmost to capture her; 

 but after decoying me a few rods from the nest she would 

 soon recover and skulk away into the bushes, leaving me to 

 my own cogitations, as I stood some half-way between her 

 missing self and the nest now wholly lost sight of. 



It would seem that only the female attends to the duties of 

 incubation, the male being cognizable in the vicinity at all 

 times of day, and sometimes giving his aerial serenade as 

 late as eleven o'clock at night. The eggs are about 1.60 X 

 1.12, the yellowish or grayish-olive color varying consider- 

 ably in different clutches; the dark umber and obscure 

 spots and blotches extending more or less all over the shell, 

 but thickening and enlarging at the large end. The young, 

 of a grayish-yellow, heavily streaked with several shades of 

 brown, according to the precocious habits of the infant 

 Waders, leave the nest as soon as they are out of the shell, 

 feeding on the insects found in mud, moss and meadow- 

 grass, until their tender bills are firm enough to probe the 

 soft ooze. 



As is the case with the European Snipe, which ours so 

 closely resembles, Wilson's Snipe is one of the most fasci- 

 nating of game-birds to the sportsman. Mark this happy 

 specimen of the human race, as with hip-boots, trusty gun, 

 full accoutrements, and faithful pointer, he creeps stealthily 

 through the tall sedges! The dog alone has that high 

 sensibility of the olfactory nerves which can take the subtle 

 scent of this noted game-bird, but his master is all eye and 

 ear to see in what direction the bird will lie to the dog; and 

 so when the bird is put up he is ready to take it in its quick, 

 short, and rather irregular flight, with that ready skill 

 which consummates the pleasure of a genuine sportsman. 

 And if he bring home his game-bag well filled with 



