THE WILSON SNIPE. 



647 



range, and then flies straiglit to some other feeding ground 



circles about 



and enters the old one from another quarter. This zigzag fligiit, which is 

 the jo}' of the old gunners and the despair of the young, is really a wonderful 

 exhibition of the self-protecting instinct. For we cannot fairlv accuse the 

 Snipe of not knowing his own mind, since when once out of harm's wav, his 

 flight is direct and rapid, and he tlrops into a bog like a shot. The trick must 

 have been deliberately acquiretl. The cries of the first bird startled are some- 

 times a signal for all the others in a given swamp to rise and dodge aliout in 

 the upper air, taking distant counsel whether to return or fly to pastures new. 

 In either case the sport is off for 

 that day, for the aerial caucus is a 

 sign that the birds won't stand 

 much fooling. 



Of course the degree of timidi- 

 ty which the birds exhibit in any 

 localit}- is simply a matter of the 

 amount of persecution to which 

 they ha\'e been recently subjected. 

 Sometimes the entrance of a gun- 

 ner into a field is tlie signal for 

 the Snipe to flee the count r}'. On 

 the other hand, I once approaclied 

 in midwinter a bird which I knew 

 to be in perfect condition, and 

 which stood quizzically in full 

 sur\^ey until I got within five feet 



of it, whereupon it calmly sirani across a little brook rather than linther to 

 fly from the harmless bird-man. 



All the members of the Snipe family proper, the Scolopacidar, rank high 

 as table birds, but the \\'ilson Snipe, with the Woodcock, are the most highly 

 prized. Water animalcuhe and many kinds of insects appear ui)on Jack's 

 bill-of-fare, but subterranean worms are the mainstay. These are obtained 

 in large measure by the direct probing of the bird, wlio is provided with a 

 long beak, having a sensitive and partlv flexible tip, controlled bv a special 

 set of muscles. In addition to this, however, it appears to make use of an 

 ingenious device. While walking thru a marsh patches of mud are often 

 found sprinkled with small rmuid holes set close together. These are the 

 work of snipe, and are called "borings," being made by the bird, thrusting 

 its long bill into the mud as far as the forehead. As it walks over and 

 around the holes, insects and worms crawl out of them and are captured. 

 Much the same thing may be done in a garden by boring a quantity of lioles 

 with a small stick, and then rapping the ground with it smartly. 



WILSOX SXIPE ••FREEZING." 



