696 Snipe - Shooting. 



North Carolina, and sometimes Virginia ; and it usually makes its 

 appearance in New Jersey and New York about the last of March 

 or the first of April, though the date of its arrival depends almost 

 entirely on the weather, and the consequent condition of its feeding- 

 grounds. As long as the meadows are ice-bound it is useless to 

 look for snipe ; but as soon as the frost has come out of the ground, 

 especially if the last thaw be followed by a soft, warm rain, the 

 shooter may, with some prospect of success, visit the little spots 

 of wet land, or the more extensive marshes, where his experience of 

 former years tells him that the birds are likely to be found. At this 

 time of the year they do not tarry long ; but the places of those 

 which pass on are at once filled by later comers, who are in turn 

 replaced by others, so that snipe are usually found in greater or less 

 abundance until after the first of May. 



This species does not ordinarily breed with us in any considerable 

 numbers, most of the birds passing the season of reproduction north 

 of the United States line. Still, many rear their broods in the State 

 of Maine, and their nests have been found in Connecticut, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, and even further south. The nest is built on 

 the high ground near some wet meadow, — or sometimes on a dry 

 one if a tiny brook murmurs through the grass near at hand, — and 

 is even of slighter construction than that of the woodcock, being little 

 more than a depression in the ground lined with a few blades of 

 grass. Four pointed eggs are laid in this, yellowish-olive in color, 

 thickly spotted with black and dark umber. The young leave the 

 nest as soon as they are hatched and follow the mother, or, as the 

 naturalists would say, they are prsecocial. 



The snipe is essentially a bird of the open, and is rarely found in 

 cover. Occasionally in the spring, when a late fall of snow occurs 

 after the birds have come on, covering for a day or two the meadows 

 where they feed, they may be found in alder or willow swamps near 

 their usual haunts, probing the mud about the warm springs where 

 the snow has melted ; but as soon as the ground is again bare they 

 leave such retreats and at once repair to the open. Sometimes, too, 

 when persistently pursued on the marshes, they will take refuge 

 among woods or even in dry and dusty corn-fields, but will only 

 remain there for a few hours. 



The favorite feeding-grounds of the snipe are fresh meadows, 

 where the ground is always moist and the soil rich. One can tell as 



