160 BAY-BIRDS. 
KRIEKER. 
Meadow Snipe, Fat Bird, Short Neck, Jack Snipe, Pec- 
toral Sandpiper. 
Tringa Pectoralis, Aud. 
This is an excellent bird, remaining in the meadows 
till October, and becoming fat, rich, and fine fla- 
vored, but unfortunately it will not come to the 
stools. Although frequently associating in flocks, it 
can hardly be said to be truly gregarious, and is as 
often found with the different varieties of small snipe 
as with its own number. It is quite‘a difficult bird to 
kill when on the wing, its flight being rapid and 
irregular, and its size small; but when it becomes 
fat and lazy, after a long residence in well supplied 
feeding-grounds, not only is its flight slower and it- 
self easier to hit, but it is often shot sitting. Its 
general color is grey, with white on the abdomen; 
and its size varies greatly according to its age and 
condition, some being of more than double the size 
of others. As a natural consequence, considerable 
practice is required to distinguish it readily from the 
ox-eyes by which it is often surrounded, when the 
meadow grass hides it, in a measure, from view. It 
feeds and dwells altogether in the meadows, finding 
its food in the stagnant water collected upon their 
surface, and is only plentiful when these are wet. 
When alarmed, it rises rapidly, and makes off in a 
zigzag way, that reminds the sportsman of the flight 
of English snipe; and early in the season it is wild 
and shy. It occasionally passes over the stools, but 
