94 BAY-SNIPE SHOOTING. 
_ juicy delicacy to the English snipe. Whether the 
same change is noticeable in the larger varieties, I 
cannot say of my own knowledge. 
The gunners have an ingenious way of stringing 
them in bunches of a half dozen each, on the longest 
feathers taken from their wings, a pair of these being 
tied together by the feather ends, and the quillpoints 
thrust through the nostrils of the birds. It is desi- 
rable to put them up in small bunches, as under the 
warm temperature of summer they will, unless every 
precaution is exercised, soon become tainted. To 
prevent this, the entrails should also be carefully 
removed without disturbing the plumage; and a 
little salt, or, as many persons recommend, coffee, 
rubbed inside, and they should be at all times care- 
fuily protected from the sun. Their sedgy flavor 
grows stronger with every day they are kept; and 
being extremely oily, the least taint renders them, 
together with all the wild inhabitants of the coast, 
unfit for food. 
Bay-snipe are essentially migratory, rarely stop- 
ping on our shores to build their nests and rear their 
young ; during the spring months they pass to or 
beyond the coast of Labrador, and attend to the 
duties of maternity in the vast levels and swamps 
that surround Hudson’s Bay, and constitute a large 
portion of the northern part of British North Ame- 
rica. In my ramblings through the Provinces, I was 
frequently informed that they abounded during the 
latter part of summer on the marshes near the Bay 
Chaleur in New Brunswick. This must evidently 
