WILSON SNIPE 91 



but it lacks the long bill, and is not so conspicuously striped on the 

 back. 



Fall. — The fall migration of snipe is dependent on the weather, 

 the first early frosts are apt to start them along; when the brilliant 

 red leaves of the swamp maples add their touch of color to the 

 marshes, and when the vegetation in the meadow r s begins to take on 

 the rich hues of autumn, then we may look for the coming of the 

 snipe. They are by no means confined to fresh-water marshes at 

 this season. I have occasionally flushed a Wilson snipe on the salt 

 marshes of Cape Cod, and have frequently found them on the dry 

 grassy shores of islands in inland ponds. 



Wells W. Cooke (1914) says: 



They seem reluctant to return south in fall, even though they can have no 

 appreciation of the constant persecution which awaits them during the six 

 months' sojourn in their winter home. A few migrants appear in the northern 

 part of the United States in early September, and, moving slowly southward, 

 reach the southern part of the Gulf States shortly after the middle of October. 

 Soon the main body of the birds follows, and all normally keep south of the 

 line of frozen ground. Yet every winter some laggards remain much farther 

 north, feeding about springs or streams. A few can usually be found on Cape 

 Cod, Mass., while in the Rocky Mountains, near Sweetwater Lake, Colorado, the 

 presence of warm springs has enabled snipe to remain throughout an entire 

 winter, though the air temperature fell to 30° F. below zi>ro. 



Mr. Brewster (1906) writes: 



During exceptionally wet autumns snipe occasionally resort in large num- 

 bers to the highly cultivated truck farms of Arlington and Belmont. An in- 

 teresting instance of this happened in September, 1875, when a flight, larger 

 than any that I have known to occur in the Cambridge region before or since, 

 settled in some water-soaked fields covered with crops of corn, potatoes, cab- 

 bages, etc., on the Hittinger farm. Belmont. Learning of the presence 

 of these birds about a week after their arirval, I visited the place early the 

 next morning, but all save 10 or a dozen of them had departed, owing no doubt, 

 to the fact that there had been a hard frost during the preceding night. The 

 borings and other signs which they had left, convinced me, however, that 

 the statement made to me at the time by Mr. Jacob Hittinger, to the effect 

 that he had started four or five hundred snipe there only the day before, 

 was probably not an exaggeration of the truth. 



Game. — The Wilson snipe, improperly called "jack snipe," but 

 more properly called " English snipe," is one of our most popular 

 game birds. Probably more snipe have been killed by sportsmen 

 than any other game bird. It ranks ahead of all other shore birds 

 and upland game birds except, possibly, the woodcock, ruffed grouse, 

 and quail. When the startling cry of the snipe arouses the sports- 

 man to instant action he realizes that he is up against a real gamey 

 proposition. He must be a good shot indeed to make a creditable 

 score against such quick erratic flyers. A tramp over the open mead- 

 ows, brown, red, and golden in their autumn livery, with one or two 



