BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 73 
by the stools. They do not move much during 
foggy weather, for the simple reason that they can- 
not see their course, but do not seem to be troubled 
by arain. Although clear—that is to say, not rainy 
—weather is preferable on many accounts, for their 
pursuit, good sport is frequently had, especially on 
Long Island, during a rain. 
Their line of flight is peculiar. Except the plover, 
they do not follow the entire coast, and are not 
found to the eastward of Massachusetts, but appear 
to strike directly from their northern haunts to Cape 
Cod, where, in the neighborhood of Barnstable, 
there was in former times excellent shooting ; thence 
they proceed to Point Judith, or even somewhat to 
the westward of it, and then they cross Long Island 
Sound, rarely much to the eastward of Quogue ; from 
Long Island they make one flight to Squan Beach, 
and so on along the bays and lagoons of the south- 
ern coast to the Equator, or perhaps beyond it to 
the Antarctic region. The plovers follow the coast 
more closely, and strike the easternmost end of Long 
Island in their career. 
It is very remarkable, that these birds which 
generally pass northward in May, and require 
only three months for incubation and growth of 
young, live the other nine months apparently in com- 
parative idleness at the south. This peculiarity has 
led to the suggestion that they may travel to the 
Antarctic ocean during their absence from the north 
—which, although probable, is as yet, from our entire 
ignorance of their habits, a mere suggestion. 
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