siS'iPE. 333 



and thus present easier shots than if they went straight 

 away in their usual zigzag course. 



They commence migrating southward from the extreme 

 north about the month of September or October, and 

 make several stoppages on the way, resting wherever food 

 is abundant. Their favorite time for travelling is on mur- 

 ky, drizzling days. If a single bird is flushed on such 

 days, its sharp call is answered by every snipe m the field, 

 and all rise together, dart about in the air, and give vent 

 to their feelings in many cries of " scaipe. " The snipe has 

 the habit of hovering, and of producing a noise with its 

 wings as it descends, which is so characteristic of the wood- 

 cock and some of the grouse. The hovering is practised in 

 hazy weather during the spring, and frequently continued 

 all day, half a dozen perhaps, being engaged in it at the 

 same time. Large numbers are destroyed at this period 

 by market-hunters, as the birds are fat and lazy, esiDeci- 

 ally if the season is warm and clear. They do not go 

 South in the autumn until the frost has made the ground 

 so hard that their long, soft bills cannot penetrate it when 

 they are searching for the juicy worms. 



The GalUnago wilsonii, which is also known as the 

 English, the American, and the jack snipe, is a true rep- 

 resentative of its family, and has all the cunning and 

 caution which has given its European namesake the high 

 character it bears among sportsmen. This species returns 

 from its winter quarters in the South about April, and, 

 while large numbers Ijreed in the United States, the major- 

 ity go further north to raise their families. The male is 

 very domestic in his habits, for, if he is not engaged in 

 cheering his spouse by hovering and drumming over her 

 nest, he is busily at work providing her with food. He 

 resorts to the usual "tricks of his trade," to lead foes 

 away from the young, but if he is unsuccessful, he sounds 

 a note of alarm, and the chicks, on hearing it, seek safety 

 in a convenient tussock until the threatened danger has 



