82 G0N, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



THE SNIPE OF AMEEIOA. 



(SCOLOPAX WILSONII.) 



I NEVER met a good shot who was not partial 

 to snipe shooting; whether I am a good shot or 

 no, matters not ; but of all pleasures, there are few I 

 so thoroughly enjoy as a day among the long bills. 

 In the different portions of the globe that fate 

 or luck has knocked me about, I have always been 

 able to find snipe ; so I am inclined to believe that 

 there is no family more generally and universally 

 distributed. But the prairies of Western America 

 far outdo all others in the abundance of this descrip- 

 tion of feathered game. Scdopax Wilsonii is truly 

 a splendid bird, so nearly similar to our own home 

 beauty that the skillful naturalist is alone able to 

 distinguish the one from the other ; in habits, flight, 

 and even call, they are essentially alike. How my 

 heart warmed the first day I shot them, for the 

 familiar cry that each bird uttered as he flushed, 



