GREY LONG-BEAK. 219 



them precisely in the manner of the American Snipe, Sco- 

 lopax Wilsoni ; but when the water reached their bodies, 

 they immersed the head and a portion of the neck, and 

 remained thus sufficiently long to satisfy me that, while in 

 this position, they probed several spots before raising their 

 heads to breathe. On such grounds as are yet soft, although 

 not covered with water, they bore holes as deep as the soil 

 will admit, and this with surprising rapidity, occupying but 

 a few moments in one spot, and probing as they advance. I 

 have watched some dozens at this work for half-an-hour at a 

 time, when I was completely concealed from their view. 

 Godwits, which are also borers, probe the mud or moist 

 earth often in an oblique direction ; whilst the Woodcock, 

 the Common Snipe, and the present species thrust in their 

 bills perpendicularly. The latter bird also seizes many 

 sorts of insects, and at times small fry, as well as the 

 seeds of plants that have dropped into the water. Dr. 

 Richardson informs us that ' individuals killed on the 

 Saskatchewan plains had the crops filled with leeches and 

 fragments of coleoptera.' 



" The flight of this bird is rapid, strong, and remarkably 

 well-sustained. When rising in large numbers, which they 

 usually do simultaneously, they crowd together, are apt to 

 launch upwards in the air for a while, and after performing 

 several evolutions in contrary directions, glide towards the 

 ground, and wend their way close to it, until, finding a suit- 

 able place, they alight in a very compact body, and stand for 

 a moment. Sometimes, as if alarmed, they recommence their 

 meandering flight, and after a while return to the same spot, 

 alighting in the same manner. Then is the time when the 

 gunner may carry havoc amongst them ; but in two or three 

 minutes they separate and search for food, when you must 

 either put them up to have a good shot, or wait the arrival 

 of another flock at the same place, which often happens, for 

 these birds seldom suffer any of their species to pass without 

 sending them a note of invitation. It is not at all uncommon 

 to shoot twenty or thirty of them at once. I have been 

 present when 127 were killed by discharging three barrels, 

 and have heard of many dozens being procured at a shot. 



