42 Sporting Sketches 



deal of shooting. On the contrary there were men 

 who might average fully three-fourths of all their 

 birds and who were able to grass snipe after snipe 

 without a mistake upon days when things worked 

 just right. I have seen a private match at twenty 

 birds per man result in a straight score for the win- 

 ner, while the loser missed but twice. 



While the great flight of snipe extends well to the 

 northward of New England, occasional nests have 

 been found in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. A 

 slight hollow in the ground, or a tuft of rank grass, 

 holds the three or four eggs, which are olive-gray 

 washed with dull brown and spotted and scribbled 

 at the larger end with deep brown and black. The 

 courtship is peculiar, the male and female frequently 

 rising high in air and sweeping about in swift circles, 

 then diving earthward at full speed, at the same time 

 producing a queer rolling sound impossible to repre- 

 sent on paper. This " drumming," as it is termed 

 by sportsmen, is also frequently performed by single 

 birds and late in the season as well as during the 

 period of courtship. A drumming snipe not seldom 

 ascends until almost invisible, then seemingly flies 

 straight down at an amazing rate, whereupon is 

 heard a loud humming, presumably caused by the 

 rushing of the air through the primaries. An empty, 

 corkless ink-bottle swiftly thrown will produce a 

 similar sound, and the old schoolboy trick of making 

 a nail hum is no bad imitation. 



The snipe occasionally takes to some large, 

 horizontal limb, more often alights upon the top rail 

 of a fence, a stump, or big log, and I once saw one 

 standing on the top of a stout post which supported 



