UPLAND SHOOTING. IG.*] 



once, csjierially in the ways of animals, is like to occur aci^ain ; 

 and 1 slioukl not hesitate, when there was no tract of low 

 springy nmlerwood near at hand to Snipe meadows, to beat 

 high wet woodlands for this bird, during the permanence of 

 cold storms and violent winds, sufficient to drive them from the 

 open fields. At all events, let the sportsman remember that in 

 the INIiddle and Eastern States, bushy gi'ound, briar-patches, 

 alder and willow brakes, and the like, are as regular haunts of 

 Snipe in spring, as bog tussocks or marshy meadows ; and that 

 there is no more propriety in his omitting to try such ground 

 for them, than there would be in neglecting to beat thickets and 

 dingles for Quail, because they ordinarily feed on stubbles. 



While I am mentioning the peculiar habits of the American 

 Snipe, such more particularly as it is not generally known to 

 possess, I may observe that although not web-footed, or even 

 semi-palmated, this little bird swims rapidly and boldly. I was 

 previously aware that, on falling wing-tipped into the water, it 

 was able to support itself, and even to struggle away from a 

 dog ; but I had no idea that it would take the water of its own 

 accord, till I was a witness to tlie fact under rather singular 

 circumstances. I was standing still, loading my gun, both bar- 

 rels of which I had just discharged, on the brink of a broad 

 spring-fed ditch which runs along the lower side of the Long 

 Meadow, when a bird, flushed by a friend at some distance, 

 flew over my head and dropped within ten feet of me, on a 

 spot of bare black soil, between two or three large grassy tus- JJJL w 

 socks, and the ditch. I had never, at that time, observed the ."* f\ , 

 natural motions of the Snipe, when unalamied ; and I stood 

 watching him, for some time, as he walked gracefully to and • * •'*t f^ 

 fro, and stooped down once or twice and bored in the mud, • 



... . . ■ ■;?/-tAA/ 



bringing up each time a small red angle-worm in his bill, utterly " 

 unconscious of my presence. After a minute or two, he delib- 'VlV^- * * 

 erately entered the ditch, and oared himself across it, as easily '■j^ ft 

 and fai' more gracefully than any water-fowl could have done. 

 I have since regretted, that I did not show myself at this mo- 

 ment, in order that I might have ascertained whether it pos- 



