SNIPE SHOOTING. 65 



close to the dogs, and flew well, and, every thing 

 considered, we seldom enjoyed greater diversion 

 on many subsequent visits to these and other 

 localities. That night the wind shifted to the 

 eastward, and we reached Philadelphia at one 

 o'clock the next day, in the midst of a furious 

 snow storm. This was the first and last snipe 

 shooting we had in the month of February.* 



Within the last few years these grounds, as 

 well as others above and below, on either side of 

 the Delaware, have been greatly improved. Ex- 

 tensive marshes have been drained ; sterile mea- 

 dows thrown open to the tides and afterwards 

 banked in, so that year after year there is even 

 less certainty than before of finding snipe. Still, 

 diversion is to be had by those who know the 

 grounds and study the weather, along Oldman's, 

 Salem and Allovvay's creeks, on the New Jersey 

 side, the marshes of Newport, Staunton, New 



* We have long noticed that when the nights are cool, with high 

 winds from the north-west, towards the latter end of March, very 

 few birds are to be found on the marshes. The prevalence of 

 southerly winds and a hazy sky, with drizzling rain, is much more 

 favorable to their migration northward. The same remark holds 

 good in reference to the appearance of shad in the Delaware. In- 

 deed, snipe are called shad-birds by many of the fishermen, and the 

 abundance or scarcity of the one is considered highly indicative of 

 that of the other. 



