74 ONTARIO. 



essential that he should retrieve. In very stormy weather 

 late in the fall snipe congregate together in certain 

 favourite places, where they remain for a very short 

 time previous to taking flight for the southward. At 

 this time very large bags can be made by sportsmen who 

 are lucky enough to hit off the right time and the right 

 place. On several occasions I have shot twenty or thirty 

 couple of snipe on a small spot of marsh not over an acre 

 in extent, the birds coming in as fast as I was able to 

 shoot them. The American snipe is very fond of alder 

 swamps, muddy places generally near the edges of lakes 

 and marshes, in which the bushes grow to the height of 

 eight or ten feet. To make a bag of snipe in such places 

 requires very straight powder. 



