UPLAND SHOOTJNG. 



137 



SPRING SNIPE-SHOOTING 



American Snipe, — Scolopax Mlhonii, — which is commonly 

 known in this country as the English Snipe, but which is 

 undoubtedly a distinct species, winters, as we have seen, in the 

 Southern States, and yet southward of the most southern ; being; 

 rarely found in the winter northAvard, or in the summer south- 

 ward, of the Carolinas. 



The great multitude breed far to the northward, not only of 

 the United States, but of the British Provinces, in the vast marshy 

 tracts which extend inland nearly to the Arctic Ocean. Many, 

 however, make their nests and rear their young in the secluded 

 morasses of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick ; and a 

 few pairs, here and there throughout the Eastern and INliddle 

 States, becom.ing less frequent as they advance toward the South, 

 so far probably as the north of Pennsylvania. 



In Western Canada, in the neighborhood of Amherstberg, they 

 are likewise found during the breeding season, and probably on 

 the southern verge of the Great Lakes likewise. 



They are, however, with us, from New Jersey eastward, 

 essentially a spring and autumn passing visitant ; and this is their 

 character so far northward as Quebec. In New Brunswick and 



