| 
5 
5, 
ms 
WILSON’S SNIPE. 437 
and have known that number to be exceeded in favorable 
weather. The Snipe lies close to the ground when ap- 
proached ; and, being a bird of strong scent, as the expres- 
sion is, is winded to a considerable distance by a good dog. 
It is easy to imagine the excitement the sportsman experi- 
ences, when, with a good dog, he enters a large meadow, 
and sees him suddenly come to a point; when, walking up 
to the Snipe, and flushing it, the report of his gun, as he 
shoots the bird, startles from their lurking-places perhaps 
a dozen others, who fly but a short distance, uttering their 
peculiar squeak or scaip, and then alight in the grass, prom- 
ising him an abundance of shooting for the day. 
The Snipe, when first flushed, rapidly doubles and twists 
in a quick, zigzag flight, which it continues for several rods, 
when it takes a more direct course, almost always against 
the wind. The sportsman, knowing this habit of the bird, 
reserves his fire until it has stopped twisting, when his aim 
is generally successful. Sometimes two birds rise at the 
same time, when it requires considerable coolness and expe- 
rience to secure both. I once got three double shots in 
succession, securing all six birds: but such an occurrence 
and good luck are rare; and we must be satisfied, in most 
shooting, to get but single birds. 
The Snipe, like the Woodcock, probes in the soft earth 
for worms and animalcules, which it feeds upon: it also 
eats the larve of water-insects, and leeches, and occa- 
sionally captures grasshoppers and other insects in the wet 
grass in which it almost entirely resides. It is very diff- 
cult of approach in cloudy and windy weather; but, in 
warm, bright days in the fall, it is quiet, and lies until 
approached quite near. It remains with us until the 
eround is frozen in the meadow, when it moves to the 
Southern States, where it passes the winter. 
