366 WOODCOCKS AND SNIPES. 



our curiosity. With few exceptions, other birds manifest 

 a fondness for each other's society, and even if they do 

 not fly in flocks may be found associating together, as if 

 they disliked a lonely, solitary life. Not so the Wood- 

 cock and the Snipe ; for they, except at the breeding- 

 season, seem to shun not only other birds, but even their 

 own species. It may be said, that this is incorrect, 

 because often in the same woods, or favourite marshy 

 haunts, they may be occasionally put up in considerable 

 numbers ; but in these cases it should be remembered, 

 that if many are found, the number depends not upon 

 any social feeling, but the attraction of their common 

 food; a large proportion of their lives being passed 

 alone in the solitude of a marsh, or the shaded retire^ 

 ment of a wood. If undisturbed, and in some cases 

 even although disturbed, there will the Woodcock or 

 the Snipe remain, till called away by that instinctive 

 faculty which impels them to visit regions far distant, 

 and still more solitary; where, without fear of intrusion, 

 they may rear their young broods, ^pvery sportsman is 

 well aware of the attachment evinced by these birds for 

 some favoured spot. Upon the same patch of rushy, 

 marshy ground, the same Jack-Snipe may be found, day 

 after day, in spite of the annoyance to which it is often 

 exposed from an indifferent marksman : up rises the 

 little bird from its rushy covert, turning and winding 

 swiftly through the air, and thus escaping charge after 

 charge of shot, which only seems to add vigour to its 

 wings; and after a wide whirl or two, down it darts 

 again, often within a few yards of the seat of danger. 



The difficulty of hitting this active little bird is indeed 

 so proverbial, that we can readily believe a story told of 

 a gentleman, a very bad shot, who having at length 

 succeeded in killing a Jack-Snipe, deeply lamented the 

 loss of a bird which, as he was always sure of finding it 

 in the same place, had afforded him constant amusement 

 during a whole Winter. Of this attachment to a par- 

 ticular spot and regular return to it, there can be no 



