160 FEATHERED GAME 



in flocks averaging from twenty to fifty mem- 

 bers, rarely more, and split up into small par- 

 ties upon arrival in our marshes, gathering 

 again into larger bunches when they resume 

 their travels. 



The Grassbird is swift of wing and snipe-like 

 in many respects, lying well to the dog and af- 

 fording good sport when so hunted. From this 

 similarity of habits, their proper behavior in 

 dog society, their occasional darting flight — 

 sometimes dodging from side to side when much 

 alarmed — they are called "Jack-Snipe" by 

 many gunners, a term more widely applied to 

 Wilson's snipe. Where this name is given the 

 Grassbird the true snipe is usually called the 

 "English snipe." The Grassbird is known by 

 many other names in the different localities 

 which he visits, among them "Grass Snipe," 

 "Marsh Plover," and "Meadow Snipe," most 

 gunners insisting on calling him a Snipe, except 

 in New England, where he is generally known 

 as the "Grassbird." 



In times past these birds were not much mo- 

 lested, being thought beneath the gunner's no- 

 tice and not worth the ammunition needed for 

 their destruction, but in the present game scar- 



