Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. 



decayed wood; but most of this bird's food must be probed for. 

 Martin Luther was not the only one to profit by a Diet of Worms! 



While comparatively few nests are built in the United States, 

 most of the love making is done here, and one of the character- 

 istic spring sounds in districts frequented by this snipe is the 

 Aiolhm whistling of its wings at evening, dawn, or by moonlight, 

 when its wooing is done chiefly in mid air. Lighter and more 

 trim of figure than a woodcock, Wilson's snipe is a better flier, 

 and, rising upward by erratic yet graceful spirals, it attains a 

 height we can only guess at but not see in the dusk; then darting 

 earthward, music thrums and whistles in its wake to charm the 

 ear of the listening sweetheart. It makes "at each descent a 

 low yet penetrating, tremulous sound," says Brewster, "which 

 suggests the winnowing of a domestic pigeon's wings, or, if 

 heard at a distance, the bleating of a goat, and which is thought 

 to be produced by the rushing of the air through the wings of the 

 snipe. . . . Besides this 'drumming' or 'bleating,' as it is called, 

 the snipe, while mating, sometimes make another peculiar sound, 

 a kitk-kiik-kuk-kiik-kup, evidently vocal, and occasionally accom- 

 panying a slow, labored, and perfectly direct flight, at the end of 

 which the bird alights on a tree or fence post a few minutes." 



The flight of a snipe, almost invariably erratic, zig-zag one 

 minute and maybe strong and direct the next, discourages all but 

 the most expert wing shot. Although lying close, and generally 

 flushed in the open, no tyro is quick enough at covering the 

 swift, tortuous flier to bag it. Nervous, excitable, and therefore 

 particularly difficult to hit, poor of flesh and muscular from long 

 travel in the spring migration, nevertheless there are in many 

 states no laws to prevent the killing of these snipe then; and the 

 fact that eggs are already formed in many birds brought to the 

 kitchen has not yet moved the hearts of sportsmen and legis- 

 lators to action. For the most part, these snipe go north of the 

 United States to lay three or four clay-colored or olive eggs, 

 heavily marked and scratched with chocolate, in a depression in 

 the ground. 



When the early frosts of autumn harden the soil at the north, 

 so that the bill can no longer penetrate it, the snipe, migrating 

 by night, again visit us, this time fatter, more lazy, or at any rate 

 less nervous than they were during the mating season. Just as 

 a wet meadow may be full of them some August morning before 



205 



