SNIPE SHOOTING. 179 



breeding places; but, under unfavourable seasonal 

 circumstances, they will speedily change their quarters. 

 The frost of very severe weather, however, will some- 

 times keep them from removal till it is broken up 

 again. We have known snipes where you would 

 little calculate upon them, — in low willow grounds^ 

 among alders and scattered brushwood ; and we have 

 seen them perch close to the habitations of man, in 

 bound up weather, in search of that moisture necessary 

 to their existence. The loud drumming noise of the 

 common snipe, heard in his descending flight, made 

 by the concussion of its wings with the air, was at 

 one time thought to come from his throat. Its pipe, 

 as it sits among the herbage, is well known to the 

 moor and marsh frequenter, and even to the mere 

 woodland frequenter ; for it is often popped upon in 

 localities but little suited to its ordinary habits. Its 

 geographical range is undetermined. Jardine says it 

 breeds in Scona and Lapland; Mr. Yarrell, in ex- 

 tensive swamps and morasses in the alpine districts 

 of Norway and Sweden ; Pennant ascribes Russia 

 and Siberia as breeding countries ; and the east is 

 given it by various authorities, while others restrict it 

 to Europe. Jardine says, "the birds of America are 

 distinct." 



The Common Snipe is provincially called the snite, 

 or heather-bleater. Its length is about, or near, 

 twelve inches ; the bill a good three inches : it weighs 

 about four ounces. The snipe has many enemies; 

 among them, the most destructive is, perhaps, the 



