246 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



from northern California, New Mexico, Arkansas and North CaroHna 

 through Central America and West Indies to Colombia and southern 

 Brazil; remains in winter casually and locally north to Washington, 

 Montana, Nebraska, Illinois and Nova Scotia; accidental in Hawaii, 

 Bermuda and Great Britain. 



History. 



The Snipe was very abundant formerly in the fresh-water 

 meadows of New York and New England. There was excellent 

 Snipe shooting from five to twenty miles out of Boston in the 

 early years of the last century. Some of the tales and legends 

 regarding it, told years ago by the older gunners, would receive 

 little credit in the light of present conditions; but a good many 

 Snipe are seen now in our meadows and good bags sometimes 

 are made. Undoubtedly the general decrease in these birds 

 and the destruction of the local breeders are due mainly to the 

 increase of population, accompanied by spring shooting and 

 excessive hunting. 



Until recently the Snipe has been pursued at all seasons, 

 and such pursuit was regarded as legitimate because the bird 

 bred mainly in the north, beyond our limits. Each gunner or 

 sportsman killed as many as he could while they were here. 

 The destruction of Snipe in the south was phenomenal. Mr. 

 James J. Pringle, a southern gentleman, has published the 

 most painstaking record of Snipe shooting that I have ever 

 seen. He was not a market hunter, but hunted for pleasure, 

 and used his own birds, giving away the surplus to his friends 

 and owners of the land over which he shot. His shooting was 

 done in Attakapas County in the southwestern part of Louisi- 

 ana, near Bayou Teche. As he did not make a business of 

 Snipe shooting he did not shoot every day during the season, 

 but only when it suited his convenience, and he kept a journal 

 in which every bird that he shot was recorded, after all had 

 been counted carefully by others as well as himself. No birds 

 shot by his companions were counted, and the record is one 

 that he could swear to in court. In shooting he used two 

 men as beaters, one as a marker, and one or two dogs (kept 

 at heel and used only to find dead birds), and a wagon and 

 driver to help wherever it would be useful. He rarely was able 



