Habits and Habitat of Snipe. 1 69 



and havinof its feathers blown all over the 

 place ; but when the occasion entails such 

 exposure, as does the great question of dinner 

 on an open marsh, the bird nearly always 

 elects to postpone feeding altogether until 

 daylight brings either calm, or at least a 

 better chance of finding food without so 

 much trotting and flitting about. 



Unlike many birds, snipe are wildest 

 and most alert when in quest of food, so 

 that when a very dark or tempestuous night 

 forces them to put off feeding until daylight, 

 you will usually find them almost unapproach- 

 able during the morning hours of the next 

 day. Indeed, if time be no object and the 

 loss of a day does not matter, it would be 

 far better to leave them undisturbed on such 

 occasions, and to turn home after a sufficient 

 number of snipe have risen at impossible 

 distances to convince you that they have got 

 all their eyes about them, primarily for worms, 

 but incidentally for you. Nothing is more 

 likely to make birds permanently suspicious, 

 if not to drive them away altogether, than 



