SNIPE SHOOTING. 139 



the months of September and October, on the Tanta- 

 mara marsh, and in a few other places in the county 

 of Cumberland. The snipe grounds are, however, in- 

 fested by pot-hunting Americans, who kill the birds 

 before they are fully fledged. To try and put a stop to 

 this unsportsmanlike practice, a club has been formed to 

 protect some of the best of this ground. But it is to be 

 feared that without the hearty co-operation of the settlers 

 the club will not be able to effect much. Thirty or forty 

 couple of snipe have been bagged by one gun on the 

 Tantamara; but the shooting is uncertain, some years 

 good and others bad. A pottering old setter or pointer 

 is required as the birds lie close. 



Nova Scotia is a favourite breeding ground for the Ame- 

 rican woodcock (Philohela Minor). The maritime provinces 

 of British North America seem to be the extreme northern 

 limits of this bird's migration. I believe the woodcock 

 has never been met with to the northward of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. They winter in the Southern States, and 

 are among the first of the migratory birds that make 

 their appearance in Nova Scotia in the spring. They lose 

 no time in nesting. The young birds are hatched by the 

 end of May or beginning of June, usually four in a brood. 

 They select for their nesting place a spot where there is a 

 thick young growth of hardwood situated near a spring or 

 stream, shunning alike the depths of the forest, where 

 they are never found, and those covers in which wild hay 

 or long grass grows. An old clearing or deserted farm, 

 which has become overgrown with bushes, is rarely with- 

 out a brood or two of cock. Cutting down the forest 

 drives away most kinds of game, but the cock is an excep- 



