XIL 



WILSON'S SNIPE. 



Few birds kindle so quick a fire in the sports- 

 man's bosom as this little rover, whether rising 

 from the meadow at the breaking of spring or 

 heard high in the evening sky when in autumn 

 he arrives from the North. Whether you call 

 him jack-snipe or English snipe or by his real 

 name, Wilson's snipe, he has ever a strange 

 attraction. Much of this is in the defiant 

 manner and seeming consciousness of superiority, 

 qualities which lend so much charm to the valley 

 quail of California. This snipe is just keen 

 enough to require the constant polishing of one's 

 wits and eyes, yet not so wild as to make his 

 capture too difficult. When woodcock, quail, or 

 grouse hide, it is with the hope that you will not 

 discover them : and without a good dog, well 

 trained, you rarely will. But this snipe deliber- 

 ately awaits your coming. When he squats, he 



178 



